c^' 



S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



s 

591 

W(pl5" 



T^eport ISTo. TO. 



TESTIMOI^Y 

OF 

M I I. T O T^ AA^ TT I T IST E Y, 

Chief of lJivhl<>n (f Soils, 

BEFOllE 

THE IKDUSTRE\L COMMISSION. 




WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
1901. 




Glass, 6-53 



Book VV (g(5 



%^ h .i? 1 



i 1 2. 

S. 46. 

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Report No. 70. Lk 

L 



EXlllUSTION AND IBANDONMENT OF SOILS. 



^ESTlMOlvTY 



Chief of Division (f Soils, 



BEFORE 



THE INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION. 




WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 



1901. 



.ETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 



U. S. Department of Aoriculture, 

Division of Publications, 
Washington, 1). C, Jnly 25, 1901. 
Sir: By invitation of the United States Industrial Commission, Prof. Milton 
Whitney, chief of the Division of Soils, appeared before that body on March 12, 
1901, as a witness in regard to the causes of the exhaustion and abandonment of 
soils. Professor Whitney, in his testimony, gives in considerable detail the causes 
leading to the abandonment of large areas of land in the New P^ngland and Southern 
States particularly, and in the far West incidentally, together with many valuable 
suggestions for the reclamation of these deteriorated soils. The subject is of con- 
siderable general interest, and it is believed that the republication of the testimony, 
which also embraces statements relating to other matters allied to agriculture, will 
serve a useful purpose and enable the Department to meet demands for the informa- 
tion therein contained, upon which there is now no available publication. I liave 
the honor, therefore, to recommend the publication of the testimony as Report No. 70 
of the Department. 

Very respectfully, Geo. Wm. Hill, 

Editor. 
Hon. James Wilson, 

Secretary of AyricuUnrr. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Introduction 3 

Causes of the abandonment of soils 4 

Exhaustion - 4 

Development of new areas and new industries. 6 

Attempts to grow crops unsuited to particular soils 6 

Unfavorable climatic conditions 8 

Scarcity of water in desert country 10 

Alkali and seepage water 10 

Flooding and inundation by storms and tides 13 

Labor and expense of maintaining proper physical condition 15 

Transportation conditions 15 

Social conditions 17 

New England 17 

Maryland and Virginia 25 

Deterioration of soils of the Southern States 29 

Methods for reclamation 30 

Fertilization 31 

Rotation of crops 32 

S]>ecialization of crops 33 

Reforestation, protection from fires, etc 38 

Thrifty business methods 38 

Irrigation 39 

Drainage 42 

Protection by levees 43 

^;^^19 I9Q0 



EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

At the meeting of the United States Industrial Commission on March 
12, 1901, at Washington, D. C, Mr. Phillips presiding. Prof. Milton 
Whitney, chief of the Division of Soils, United States Department of 
Agriculture, was introduced as a witness, and, being first duly sworn, 
testified as follows: 

Q. (B}' Mr. Clarke.) Will you please give your name and post-office 
address, and also state your official position? — A. Milton Whitney, 
Takoma Park, D. C. I am chief of the Division of Soils, Department 
of Agriculture. 

Q. How long have you been in your present position? — A. About 
six years. 

Q. Had you, before coming to that position, been engaged in studies 
like those you now pursue? — A. Yes; I have been engaged in the study 
of soils for the past eighteen years. 

Q. In how many States? — A. I began in Connecticut at the Con- 
necticut Experiment Station, and was then in North Carolina as super- 
intendent at the experiment farm; then as professor of agriculture in 
the University of South Carolina; then as professor of soil physics in 
the Agricultural College of Maryland. 

Q. Of what State are you a native? — A. Maryland. 

Q. The commission will be pleased to have you proceed in your own 
way to describe the character of your work in the Department of Agri- 
culture, and especially as to how you gather the soils and how you 
make your experiments. — A. M3" understanding was that the main 
question which would come up would be the very important subject 
of the exhaustion of soils and abandonment of lands, particularly 
with reference to the New England States and the Southern States, 
and incidentally the abandonment of certain lands in the West; to see 
if cause or causes could be assigned, and if there were any- suggestions 
for remedial measures. 

Q. Proceed, if you please, in your own way, then, to develop that 
particular subject. — A. It is doubtless well known to the commission 
that there are large areas of land in the New England States that 

3 



4 EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 

have been abandoned; that there are large areas in the Southern 
States that have also been practically abandoned and given over to 
waste; furthermore, that there are large areas in the far West which 
have once been settled and which have since been abandoned or are 
now held in very low esteem. 

CAUSES OF THE ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 

EXHAUSTION. 

The cause of the deterioration of the lands in the South has been 
commonl}^ ascribed to the exhaustion of the soil, and this is the first 
consideration that I wish to take up. The exhaustion of the soil is 
due, in mj' opinion, to changes in the chemical and physical properties 
of the soil rather than to any actual extraction of plant food, 

A soil, to be productive, must render annually, as the crop needs it, 
a sufficient amount of food material in a form available to the plants. 
As a matter of fact soil is a difiicultly soluble substance, composed 
mostly of silicates and aluminates, or difiicultly soluble compounds of 
silica, alumina, potash, soda, and lime in various forms. Through 
atmospheric agencies, largely, these compounds are rendered more or 
less soluble and more or less readily available to plants. 

A fertile soil is one in which the weathering eft'ects come in at such 
times and to such an extent as to render available to plants a suflicient 
amount of this plant food. If that weathering does not take place and 
the food material is not brought into a condition in which it is avail- 
able to the plants, the land is as poor as though it actually contained 
no plant food. 

1 have never in my experience seen a case in which one could say 
with any degree of certainty or even of probability that exhaustion 
was due to the actual removal of plant food. It is perfectly safe to 
say that the condition of the so-called worn-out soils in the South is 
due, not to an actual extraction of plant food, but to the chemical con- 
dition in which it now is, in which it is unavailable to plants, and 
that the restoration of the fertility of that land must be, not neces- 
sarily in the addition of plant food to the soil, but in bringing about 
such changes in the physical conditions or in the chemical combina- 
tions as will encourage that natural weathering of the soil which 
brings the plant food into a condition in which the plant can get its 
support. 

To emphasize this statement, which may appear at variance with the 
general ideas concerning the exhaustion of soils, I would call the com- 
mission's attention to the many cases in which soils have been culti- 
vated for hundreds and thousands of j^ears. So far as we know, within 
historic times the}- have been constantly cultivated, and cultivated in 
the same crops. We have the case of the soils of India, which tradi- 



EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 5 

tions say have been cultivated for two thousand years, under primi- 
tive methods, without artificial fertilizing, and which still give fair 
returns of the common crops of the country. We have the case also 
in Egypt of lands which have been cultivated since history began and 
where the soils are as fertile as ever. We have all through the 
southern countries of Europe, and still later in the countries in the 
north of Europe, in Holland, in Denmark, in France, in England, 
records of the continuous and profitable cultivation of soils for five 
hundred years — away back to the time when history first opens up our 
knowledge of these countries. 

There is one phase, however, that it would be well to dilate upon 
here, namely, that with our increase in density of population and with 
the competition that has been going on, we- are no longer satisfied 
with the yields that are naturally obtained from many of our soils, 
and we have resorted to the practice of fertilization in order to force 
plants to produce far beyond what the natural fertility of the soil 
will give. 

There are historic experiments that have been going on in England 
for the past fifty years in which a crop of w^heat has been grown con- 
tinuously without fertilization, and the yield has steadily fallen from 
what it was at first (1 forget the figure) until it now produces about 12 
or 13 bushels per acre. For the past twenty years there has been lit- 
tle or no difi'erence in the yield, except slight fluctuations due to sea- 
sonal conditions, and it is believed that the yield that is now obtained 
measvires approximately the power of the soil to produce a crop under 
perfectly natural conditions. It will produce annually, so far as we 
know, for hundreds of years 12 or 13 bushels per acre. 

Q. Are you able to state whether the kernel is as full and well devel- 
oped now as it was in the earlier conditions 'i — A. So far as we know, 
the grain is of the same value, pound for pound, but not being satis- 
fied with a yield of 12 or 13 bushels per acre they have, by the use of 
fertilizers and manures, increased the 3'ield on adjacent plots to an 
average of about 30 bushels per acre. In this forcing of the crop they 
have found that the}^ could economically increase the production from 
that soil. The first we would call the natural fertility and the second 
the acquired fertility. One is perfectly justified in recognizing these 
two characteristics in the production of the soil: What it will naturally 
produce through a course of years under the natural weathering of 
the material, and what it can be made to produce by the artificial appli- 
cation of more food material than the plant can secure through the 
natural weathering. If the natural yield from a soil becomes so low 
as to make it unprofitable, it may often be necessary to fertilize in 
order to make the soil productive. 



b EXHAUSTION AISTD ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 

DKVKLOPMENT OF NEW AREAS AND NEW INDUSTRIES. 

The second cause of the abandonment of soils arises from the devel- 
opment of new areas and new industries. There is no question that 
the opening up of the western country, the great corn and wheat pro- 
ducing States of the central West, the wheat lands of California and 
of the Red River Valley of Minnesota and Dakota, has had a great 
influence upon the agriculture of New England and all our Eastern 
States and has done much toward bringing about the conditions that 
are now prevalent. This will be taken up more in detail later. 

In the line of the introduction of new industries I would cite the case 
of tobacco: Before the war tobacco Avas grown very generally in the 
State of Maryland, and since the war it has been grown extensively in 
the southern counties only; but with the introduction of the White 
Burley tobacco in Ohio and Kentucky — which produces a large 3aeld 
and which can be produced with profit at a comparative!}" low price — 
the tobacco industry in Maryland has been largely given up, and the 
effect of this change on the farmers of Maryland has been very disas- 
trous, because tobacco has been one of the staple products of that por- 
tion of the State. 

Another instance that I should cite is the development of the truck 
industry. Fifteen or twent}^ years ago the truck industry was in a 
very flourishing condition in Maryland. Truck was grown very 
extensively on certain classes of soil which were not adapted to other 
lines, and there were certain localities in which the people were 
extremely prosperous. But with the development of transportation 
facilities, with the opening up of truck areas in the South, in South 
Carolina and in Florida, and with the production of those early vege- 
tables which could be rushed up to the Northern markets in the winter 
and early spring, the industrv has languished in certain localities to 
such an extent that it has been given up. That is the cause of the 
abandonment of farms in certain sections of the Atlantic coast States. 

Q, (By Mr. Kennedy,) Are you going to discuss the question of irri- 
gation — whether it will have a still further eflect to cause abandonment 
of poorer lands? — A. I will speak later of the West, but I will bring 
this in at this time, though I was going to speak of that particularly 
in connection with the New England States. 

Q. You had ]>etter take your own order probably. — A. 1 will be glad 
to answer any particular question as we go along, though. 

ATTEMPTS TO GROW CROPS UNSUITED TO PARTICULAR SOILS. 

Another very important contributing cause to the abandonment of 
lands has been in the unfortunate ventures that have been made in 
bringing a people from a distance to settle a region with which they 
are unfamiliar, and to grow crops with which they are themselves 



EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 7 

acquainted in the localities from which they come, but which they have 
no appreciation of as adapted to the h)calitie,s into which they are 
going. The Department of Agriculture is constantl}' in receipt of 
requests for information as to where certain settlements of people 
could ])e made — people who are to be brought in to grow alfalfa, to 
grow stock, to grow tobacco, or other crops. And very frequently 
the utmost ignorance is shown as to the localities which are to be 
selected and as to the conditions into which they are going. 

There have been many instances of failure from these causes alone 
in the States of Maryland, Virginia, Peimsylvania, and in fact through- 
out the country. 

One instance I would speak of particularly that has come to my per- 
sonal attention is a settlement in one of the Western States. A large 
area of land was taken up and put under irrigation. Agents were sent 
from this country abroad to attract immigration. People were brought 
from Switzerland, from France, from Germany, and an extensive plan 
of development was outlined. They were to introduce the European 
grapes; they were to introduce and develop the sugar-beet industry; 
they were to take up all kinds of fruits that had been successful in 
their own districts; they were to grow truck crops, and they were to 
develop large grain and cattle interests. But the plans completely 
failed, as their soils and their water and their climate were not tit for 
the industries that they started. After a most disastrous and expensive 
experience they have lost their crops; they have found that fruit will 
not grow; that the grape is not suited to the conditions there. The}' 
have lost their mone}', and they have come to a realization of the fact 
that the country and the conditions are adapted simply to grazing; 
that if they grow alfalfa and stock they can do well, but they can not 
do well with their fruits ami with their sugar beets, because the con- 
ditions there are not adapted to those crops. 

Q. Would you state what the location is? — A. It is an area in New 
Mexico that I am referring to. It is an experience in the Pecos Val- 
ley. The principal reason for the failure in that case is due to the 
condition of the irrigation water. It is very alkaline, which these 
people did not know when they went into that region. Their failure 
was also due to their unfamiliarity with the conditions in that locality, 
and their attempt to grow something that they had grown in Switzer- 
land or in Holland under conditions which were entirely different. In 
this arid region, Avhere they have to use water to produce any crop, the 
only available water has been found to be unfit at times for irrigation. 
This is a cause of the abandonment of large areas of land, not only in 
New Mexico but in other portions of the West. 



8 EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 

UNFAVORAHI.K CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 

Another contrihutiiig- cause of the abandonment of hinds has been in 
the seh^ction of localities in which there are unfavorable climatic con- 
ditions. The commission is doubtless aware of the conditions in Kan- 
sas and in portions of Nebraska and of Colorado — how, during- the 
boom times of fifteen or twenty years ago the country was settled, 
towns were established, and farms were obtained with the idea that 
fortun(>s could be made on the agricultural products of the country. 
Cotton mills were put up out in the semiarid regions, and are still stand- 
ing as monuments to the unfortunate schemes and ventures that were 
devised. 

Q. (By Mr. Clarke.) Could you state what the cause of failure was 
in that section? — A. Yes; 1 ^v\\\ come to that. 

Q. (By Mr. Kennedy.) You do not mean cotton mills in Kansas and 
Nebraska? — A. Yes; there are abandoned cotton mills in Kansas and 
Nebraska. 

Mr. Tompkins. There is one at Kearney, I think. 

The Witness. In explanation of the conditions just stated, it may 
be observed that the semiarid region of the country extends generally 
from the one hundredth meridian to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, 
and embraces in my definition such areas as have from 15 to 20 inches 
of rainfall per year, but so distributed that only occasionally are the 
seasonal conditions favorable for crops. When they have a favoi-able 
season, or two in succession, as they frequently do, they get line 
yields and make good returns, but in three years out of tive, when 
they have their disastrous droughts and get nothing, the profits of the 
two successful 3'ears are entirely used up. 

With less than 15 inches of annual rainfall lands are seldom or never 
successfull}' cultivated, so far as J know, except in certain areas in 
Washington and California. With 2<» inches of rainfall (that is half 
what Ave have in the East), provided it is fairly well distributed, good 
crops can be grown in the semiarid regions; ))ut it is the uncertainty 
of the seasons which renders farming unprofitable. It is the uncer- 
tain and unequal distribution of the rainfall that has caused so many 
disasters and has been the reason of the abandonment of so many farms. 

It is perhaps one of the most serious problems, that of the semiarid 
regions, that we have in the agriculture of this country at the present 
time. In the far West such conditions can be overcome where irriga- 
tion is practicable, but so far as known there is no bright future for 
irrigation in much of the semiarid regions of the country. In Kansas 
there were in 1889 only 20,000 acres of land under irrigation. In 
North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas there were 
only ()7,000 acres of land under irrigation in that year, and the possi- 
l)ilities of getting water are small in comparison with the vast areas 
that would need to be watered to l)e permanently and safely productive. 



EXHAtrSTlON AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 9 

Another cause that has contributed to the abandonment of lands in 
the seuiiarid regions has been the deterioration of the ranges and the 
consequent injur}' to the cattle industry-. A division of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture is actually giving its attention to the investigation 
of the range problem and the possibilities of conserving and maintain- 
ing the ranges, and this being the case, it would hardly be proper for 
me to discuss this subject at greater length here. It seems to me, 
however, that it will be necessary and wise to adopt some legislation to 
protect the ranges in the West, and to prevent the terrible destruction 
of property which is going on through close grazing, against which 
there is no restriction in many of the areas of the West. It seems to 
me that this is a problem for legislation, as it is at present too difficult 
for the agriculturist to deal with and much of it occurs upon the pub- 
lic domain. Where range lands are rented for 5 cents an acre little 
expense can be put upon them for improvement. There is little chance 
at present to make an}' improvement in the agricultural conditions 
where land is so cheaply rented, so cheaply purchased, and so care- 
lessly used. 

Another example of unfavorable climatic conditions may be cited in 
the Connecticut Valley, right here in our Eastern States. With a 
rainfall of al)out 40 or 50 inches, we have soils that have been 
abandoned from the same unfavorable climatic conditions — a defi- 
ciency of rainfall — as prevail in the semiarid regions of the West. 
1 refer particularly to the Windsor sand, which occasionally produces 
a very fine crop of tobacco, but the soil is so coarse and leachy that it 
is only about two years out of five that the conditions are favorable. 
In the favorable years they get good yields and the farmers are very 
prosperous and contented; in the other three years out of five, as in 
the West, the soils dry out and are subject to such disastrous droughts 
that they are entirely unproductive. The expectation of getting a 
crop even two years out of five has induced many farmers to hold on 
until finally there have been successive seasons of failure, and they 
have had to give up. Under conditions of well-distributed rainfall the 
soil produces, as does the semiarid land in the West, but it is a desert 
for three years out of five. 

Q. (By Mr. Phillips.) About how extensive is that area? — A. The 
area in the Connecticut Valley is not large, but along the Atlantic 
seaboard, in the aggregate, it covers a large area. These coarse, 
sandy soils are found from the New England States all the way along 
the Atlantic seaboard and around the Gulf, and many farms have been 
abandoned on these areas simply because of the unfavorable climatic 
conditions for these particular soils when other soils surrounding 
them are favored by the same conditions. 

1 would cite also another instance to show the effect of unfavorable 
climatic conditions on the abandonment of soils, namely, the orange 



10 EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 

industry in Florida, where they have grown oranges with great success 
for years and where the indu.str}^ has tiourished in the most promising 
way until a season of frost and freezes that has thrown back the 
industr}^ for years and has ruined a hirge number of people. This 
is a contributing cause to the abandonment of lands, which can not be 
overlooked in the consideration of the subject. 

SCAKCITY OF WATER IN DESERT COUNTRY. 

Another cause for the abandonment of lands is found in the scr.rcity 
of water in our desert countries. The public lands of the arid States 
amount to 560,000,000 acres. Only 3,600,000 acres were irrigated in 
those States in 1889 and onl}^ 74,000,000 acres are capable of being irri- 
gated, according to the most careful estimates of the Geological Survey. 
We have, then, the difference between the possibilities of 74,000,000 
acres and the actual extent of 560,000,000 acres, which are used to 
some extent for grazing lands, and upon which living is, at the most, 
extremely precarious. Many areas have been abandoned which have 
once been settled, simply because of the extreme scarcity of water and 
the impossibility of producing agricultural crops or promoting agri- 
cultural interests. 

ALKALI AND SEEPAGE WATER. 

Another important cause of the abandonment of lands is found in 
the alkali and seepage waters of the West. 

I would call the attention of the commission to some work the 
Department is doing in Salt Lake County, Utah. This was one of the 
earliest settlements where irrigation was tried in our modern civiliza- 
tion of this country. When the Mormons first settled the place they 
naturally took up the richest bottom soils along the Jordan River. 
The soils were naturally tilled with salts, but with the drainage that 
was started and from the character of the soils themselves the salts 
were quickly removed and the lands were in splendid condition for 
agricultural use. 

In the further settlement of the country, in the increase in the 
densit}' of population, as the settlers moved up on the high lands and 
the water applied at higher elevations, the seepage of water from the 
canals accumulated in the low places and brought with it the salts, 
which accumulated to such an extent in the low places that the tirst 
lands, the most fertile lands of the valley, were rendered entirely 
unfit for cultivation. They were wet and swampy, and they were 
filled with alkali, and the history of this once prosperous commu- 
nity has been that the people are moving up onto the bench land, and 
are abandoning soils which were once the most productive in the 
State. 

In the area which we surveyed in Salt Lake County, between the 
.Fordan River and the Great Salt Lake, about 50 square miles of land 



EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 11 

has been successfully cultivated under irrigation. Of this. 10 square 
miles, or nearly one-lifth of the whole area, hao been ruined and has 
been abandoned as worthless and useless, and the injur}' is progress- 
ing. Lands are constantly' being turned out which have been swamped 
with seepage waters and which have been filled with alkali. 

This is one of the most interesting and most important problems of 
the West, and one which I should like particularly to bring to the 
attention of the commission, because it seems to me that something- 
will have to be done, through either State or national legislation, to 
stop the injury that is going on. 

Q. Have you any theory' as to how to stop it? — A. I will go on to 
state that. The conditions may be briefly stated thu.s: The canal com- 
pany, whether organized by the farmers or organized with independent 
capital, constructs a canal and maintains a certain level or uniform 
grade, going through all kinds of soils which it may be necessar}' to go 
through in the construction of its canal. It happens in the Salt Lake 
Valley, as in man}' other localities that we have studied, that this canal 
goes for several miles through a gravelly soil, in which there is a great 
deal of seepage and loss of water. The water is plentiful and of good 
quality, so the canal companies are not concerned with the loss. They 
have a bounteous supply from the Utah lake, and they are getting 
good water, free from alkali. But the water in seeping out through 
this gravelly area is slowly filtering through the soil, carrying with it 
a relatively large quantity of salts, which are in all arid soils, and are 
concentrating the salts in the lower lands and are filling up the low- 
lands with water, until, as a matter of fact, there is a string of lakes 
out in what was once an arid, desert country — artificial lakes on what 
were later fertile and well-cultivated soils, and which are now aban- 
doned lands and tule swamps. 

It seems to me that the farmers situated on those lower levels should 
have recourse, through civil suits, to damages, and the canal companies 
maintaining canals under such conditions should either be compelled to 
protect their canals from seepage or to pay damages to the farmers 
whose lands are ruined. 

These conditions are exceedingly pernicious. If you have a soil 
under the most careful methods of cultivation, farmed with the most 
expensive varieties of fruit or other farm products, taking the utmost 
care, giving the greatest attention to all methods of growth so far as 
your experience and your skill or the knowledge of your experts will 
indicate, it is certainly most exasperating to have the land swamped 
and filled with alkali from a leakuig ditch situated perhaps 3 or 4 miles 
away, and over which you have no possible control. It is an exceed- 
ingly pernicious thing, for which some recourse should be had in dam- 
ages. But, so far as I know, there is nothing to stop it. The lands 
are going to waste, and one-fifth of the irrigated lands of that district 



12 EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 

alone have been a])andoned from this cause — a cause which could have 
been provided against. These lands could have been protected and 
these farms could have been saved. 

Another instance that I would cite in connection with this district 
is the extensive area that is situated just west of Salt Lake City and 
extending over to the Great Salt Lake. There is an area of about 
90,000 acres, and it comes close up to the Jordan River and extends 
across to the Salt Lake. The land is filled with alkali, but it is not 
always apparent on the surface. Frequently the surface looks like a 
fertile, easily cultivated loam, and many attempts have been made to 
settle the countr3^ Many farms have been laid out, canals have been 
constructed, water has been let onto the places, town sites have been 
located, railroads have been projected and built, and with the first 
application of water good crops have been produced^ with the second, 
a failure. With the third application the land has become so salty 
that it is abandoned as a waste and desert land. Thousands of dollars 
have been invested in the settlement of that tract, and thousands and 
thousands of dollars have been lost in the fruitless effort to build up 
an agricultural industry in that area, and this is the cause of the 
abandonment of these soils — because of the occurrence of alkali not 
always seen from the surface, but always lying in the lower depths 
of the soil ready to come up at the first application of water. It will 
be interesting to state that the result of our soil survey convinced us 
that it was perfectly feasible to reclaim these lands. There is suffi- 
cient fall to put in a drainage system. The soils are naturally easily 
worked. The expense would be no greater than the drainage of lands 
in Ohio and Illinois, and the profit that would be realized from the 
reclamation of the 60,000 acres of land situated on that tract would 
amount, in our opinion, to about $3,000,000 in property valuation. 
Now, a very singular thing has arisen in regard to that section, that 
while the people seem to realize that drainage may reclaim the lands, 
yet they seem to be averse to having the drainage work done, and the 
people who have desired to follow our advice have been unable, in 
certain cases at any rate, to do so from the objection of their neigh- 
bors. There are no drainage laws, as there are in Illinois and others 
of our our Middle States, and the er erprise is stopped right here by 
the inability to have any recourse to State laws, and by the unwilling- 
ness of the people to give access to the drainage canals through 
their places. This is a matter that 1 shall refer to later in my remarks 
upon drainage. 

Q. (By Mr. Kennedy.) Where does the water for irrigation come 
from — is it mountain drainage? — A. The water is from the mountain 
streams, fed in this case into Utah Lake, which is a fresb -water lake, 
and is taken out of the Jordan River. 

Q. (By Mr. Farquhar.) What is the elevatioii l)etween the Great 
Salt Lake and the river? — A. Twelve feet between the level of the 



EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 13 

rivp'" at Salt Lake City and the lake, but there is a ridge going through 
the district that gives about 2 feet per mile of fall on either side, and 
in addition to that there are extensive washes that extend up through 
the land that would form natural outlets to the drainage system. 
They run up for 8 or 10 miles into the country. 

Q. (By Mr. Kennedy.) Is the recession of the waters of the Great 
Salt Lake having any effect on the soils and climate of Utah? — A. It 
is having a great effect upon the soils. The level of the Great Salt 
Lake has fallen 14 feet since 1865, and in our survey this year of the 
area around Ogden we mapped in 60,000 acres — -about 10 square miles 
area — ^where the lake had receded, and we established the shore line 
of the lake in some places 9 miles beyond where the former survey 
had placed it. 

Q. (By Mr. Phillips.) What is the cause of the fall of that lake, in 
your judgment "i — A. There is an annual fluctuation that has never been 
explained, and there are periodical fluctuations that have never been 
explained. The level has been known to vary from period to period 
for reasons that are not at present known, but in addition to that the 
withdrawal of a large amount of water that is being used now for the 
irrigation of the surrounding lands, which does not go into the lake 
as formerly, is certainly a veiy large contributing cause to the lower- 
ing of the present surface. 

Q. You spoke in regard to canals through the sandy soil portion, 
saj'ing there ought to be something done to remedy the evil. Have you 
any theoiy ? Could the water be carried through pipes and thus pre- 
vent seeping through the soil ? — A. I would state that in California, 
where water is more valuable, where the companies themselves are 
financiall}'^ interested in how much water they sell, it is very common 
to protect canals from loss by seepage by running through wooden 
troughs or through wooden pipes, or as is frequently done where the 
water is carried through sandy areas, by cementing the sides and the 
bottoms of ditches. We have photographs (I wish I had brought them 
with me) of large-sized canals and laterals, constructed in California, 
with tb'^ sides and bottoms cemented. 

Q. That would be entirely practicable — to prevent seepage and thus 
prevent the destruction of lands below? — A. It is entirely practicable. 
In many cases simply the puddling of the canal would be sufficient, 
but where seepage causes injury by alkaline deposits, in my opinion, 
it should be stopped, and the companies should be required to protect 
their canals from undue loss. 

FLOODING AND INUNDATION BY STORMS AND TIDES. 

Another cause of the abandonment of land is flooding and occasional 
inundations by storms and tides. The commission, of course, is well 
aware of the enormous losses from floods in the Mississippi Valley, and 



14 EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 

from the recent floods in Texas. This is a matter of such common 
knowledge that it hardl}" seems necessary for me to dwell upon it as 
one of the important causes of the abandonment of soils, where the 
conditions are so unsafe that settlers can no longer risk their lives or 
their crops. But I would call your attention also to the vast extent of 
the tide marshes and inland swamps of the United States. This ques- 
tion of the tide marshes has recentl}'^ been brought to the attention of 
the Department of Agriculture from its economic importance in the 
New England States. It is estimated there are 168,000 acres of tide 
marshes along the Atlantic and the Gulf coast; and on the Pacific coast 
it is estimated that there are several million acres of tide marshes. 
These lands, if protected from the tide and drained, would be of value 
in agriculture. Some of the inland swamps of Illinois which were 
selling originally at $1 to $5 an acre have a value now from $60 to 
$100 an acre. It is estimated that one-fifth of the area of Michigan is 
swamp land, which, if drained and reclaimed, would be of great value 
for celery and corn and potato crops. The tide marshes have also an 
indirect eftect upon the values of adjacent lands, because of the preva- 
lence of disease and the prevalence of mosquitoes. I would not say 
tide marshes only, but all marshes. The commission, of course, is 
aware of the commonly accepted views now that malaria is conveyed 
by mosquitoes, and the Department of Agriculture has been applied to 
recently from many sources to suggest means of reclaiming the tide 
marshes and the inland swamps of the United States, partly for their 
agricultural value and partly for the increase of the healthfulness of 
the surrounding land. There are many cases where areas and indus- 
tries have been abandoned from the unhealthfulness of the neighbor- 
ing marsh lands. I do not know that there is any cause that has con- 
tributed so much to the discomfort of many of the Atlantic coast States 
immediately upon the water, which would otherwise l)e a delightful 
location and a fine farming land, as the prevalence of malaria and simi- 
lar diseases. That these causes have prevented to a large extent the 
settlement of some of our Southern States and have been the cause of 
abandonment of some others of our lands is unquestionably true. The 
prevalence of malaria and these malignant fevers near swamp lands of 
the South, the unhealthfulness which almost prevents the residence of 
white persons, is a matter that calls for very great and grave consid- 
eration, and it is one that the States, at least, it seems to me, might 
well consider. 

An instance that I would cite as to the eft'ect of inundation and floods 
as a cause of the al)andonment of soils is in the rice lands of South 
Carolina. These lands before the war were protected by substantial 
levees that were built through cooperation between the individual and 
the State and maintained as a protection against the flooding of the 
fertile swamp lands by floods or by tides. During the period of the 



EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 15 

civil war these levees were destro3^ed, the lands were for a time aban- 
doned, and since that time it has been impossible to get labor to work 
in the canals, and it has been expensive to construct the levees, and 
large areas of this once fertile and extremely productive soil have 
been abandoned from this cause. 

Q. (By Mr. Clarke.) Why has it been impossible to get labor to 
reclaim this land — on account of unhealthfulness of the climate? — A. 
On account of unhealthfulness and the unwillingness of labor to work 
under conditions they have to in the swamp lands. In a wa}^ it would 
seem that machiner}^ could be introduced, di-edges; but so far as I 
know this has not been done on any extensive scale. 

Q. Have 3^ou given attention to the development of rice growing in 
southwestern Louisiana 'i — A. Yes. The conditions there are that these 
lands, which were semiswamps, have been drained where necessary, 
and they are not subject to overflow, as the rice lands of South Caro- 
lina are. The Louisiana lands are higher, but still they are swamp 
lands, and the irrigation that is given to these lands is done b}^ pump- 
ing or l>y artesian flow, usually by pumping, whereas the irrigation of 
the rice lands of South Carolina is h-om the rivers, and is without any 
pumping or artificial means, either for irrigation or for drainage. 

Q. It is in evidence before the commission that the Louisiana rice 
region is very healthful. — A. That region is much more healthful 
than the South Carolina rice lands. 

LABOR AND EXPENSE OF MAINTAINING PROPER PHYSICAL CONDITION. 

Another cause of the abandonment of lands, at least a contributing 
cause, is the expense of maintaining the proper physical conditions. 
The trouble ar.d expense of clearing the stones off the New England 
fields have been so great and so laborious that they have had some- 
thing, at least, to do with the abandonment of lands in that locality. 
The simple expense and labor involved in getting the fields into con- 
dition and maintaining them in condition to cultivate in competition 
with the large areas of the fertile Western plains have been so great 
that the}^ have unquestionably been a contributing cause to the aban- 
donment of the soils. And the labor and expense and risk in main- 
taining the proper conditions of the rice lands of South Carolina, 
which I will refer to again, have been so great that there also these 
factors have operated against the continuance of the culture of the 
lands, and have been an insurmountable obstacle to the reclamation 
of what were once fertile and well-cultivated soils. 

TRANSPORTATION CONDITIONS. 

I would mention also the effect of transportation facilities. While 
cheap transportation has opened up new and important markets, it has 
also been the cause of the development of extensive areas of new and 



16 EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 

exceedingly fertile country. The effect of this cause alone in the 
New England States and in the South has been very great, and will be 
referred to in a later place. 

Another cause has been unquestionably the discrimination in rates 
and the high freight charges which have prevailed in certain localities. 
It is not my purpose to go fully into this question, as the commission 
has had in evidence before questions touching this important subject, 
but in my experience the commercial value of farm lands is often con- 
trolled to a considerable extent by the rates of freight which are locally 
applicable to these areas. It may be that the lands are situated at 
such a distance that cheap transportation can not be offered; it maybe 
that there are conditions of expense in the marketing of the products, 
but certain it is that the possibilities of building up industries, agricul- 
tural industries, on certain soils and under certain climatic conditions 
which in themselves would be favorable is prevented by the imprac- 
ticability of marketing the products with any profit under the prevail- 
ing conditions. 

Q. (By Mr. Phillips.) What section of the countiy is that most 
applicable to? — A. I would cite, in the case of Florida, the marketing 
of the bulky and tender products from the truck fields. These products 
have to be marketed under peculiar conditions. They have to be 
rushed to the Northern markets on the fast freight or passenger 
schedule. They have to be provided with proper refrigerating and 
ventilation cars, and they must be placed upon the market in the 
shortest possible time in order to be in fresh eatable condition, and to 
reach the market at the earliest possible date. Now, it is the common 
experience in Florida that the possibilities of marketing the crop with 
any profit to the farmer is a pretty close thing to figure on, and that 
it requires very nice and very close calculation in many cases to deter- 
mine whether it is possible to send a crop to the Northern markets with 
any profit. I do not mean to say that there is discrimination, but I 
do want to show the commission that the possibilities of marketing 
the crop, the possibilities of transportation, have necessarily some- 
thing and in many cases much to do with the possibilities of the devel- 
opment of any particular agricultural district, and that that is one of 
the important factors in the abandonment of many enterprises that 
have been started — in the abandonment of lands. 

Another cause of this same kind which could be cited is in the mar- 
keting of the truck crops of southern Maryland. The development of 
the truck industry there a few years ago was very great, and the prod- 
uct had to be sent by river steamers to the railroad centers, or to the 
Northern market, and they were picked up by these steamers on their 
regular runs. The amount of product was large, the distance from 
the market was great, and the time that was consumed in getting the 
crop loaded and delivered in the Baltimore or Washington or Phila- 



EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 17 

delphia markets became so great, and the transportation service was 
so irregular, that the industry on large areas has been given up for 
that one cause, namely, the inability to market the products in the 
proper way and in the quick time that is made necessary by our pres- 
ent transportation facilities. 

Q. (By Mr. Clarke.) You do not think that the difficulty of getting 
suitable farm labor for this truck farming was a potent factor in caus- 
ing- the abandonment of it? — A. Decidedly. I shall speak of the con- 
dition of labor in the South later on. This is an important contributing 
cause. 

SOCIAL CONDITIONS. 

To come now to one of the most important problems — the social 
conditions and g'rowth in manufactui'es, and the increase in wages. 

Nexo England. — In treating this 1 shall take up specific cases, first, 
of the cause of the deterioration and abandonment of lands in New 
England, about which so much has lately been said. So far as I am 
aware, there is no evidence to show that the New England soils have 
any less plant food than they had when first cultivated. That is to 
say, that so far as the chemical analysis would show, they have all of 
the essential ingredients for crop proauction. I do not mean to say, 
however, that the soils are in as high a state of cultivation as they 
were, because I do not think that is universall}^ the case; but the 
exhaustion of soils as it is usually considered has not contributed to 
any great, extent to the present condition of the agricultural lands of 
New England in the two hundred years in which they have been culti- 
vated. It would be impossible, with the record we have of Eastern 
countries, to conceive that in two hundred 3^ears these soils could be 
so impoverished by the actual withdrawal of plant food by the crops 
that have been marketed as to make them markedly deficient in plant 
food. We must remember that the country throughout the New 
England States has generally a rough, hilly, and frequently a stony 
soil, with rocks and bowlders and gravel, left from the Glacial period. 
The expense of clearing and cultivating these rough and rocky soils is 
considerable. With the development of the fertile lands in the West, 
with the ease of cultivation and the methods that can be employed, 
the cost of production has been reduced. The New England farmer 
can no longer afford to grow the staple farm products. When wheat 
was bringing 11.25 and $1.50 a bushel, as it was a few years ago, and 
when hay was correspondingly valuable and cattle a correspondingly 
important industry, the products from the New England farms were 
profitable. There is no question that the New England farmers made 
a comfortable living; but with wheat as low as it is at present, with 
cattle as cheaply raised as they are in the West, and with hay and 

4685— No. 70—01 2 



18 EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 

grain as abundant, they have been unable to compete. The contribu- 
ting- cause of this condition has been the small areas which they could 
devote to any particular crop, and the labor and expense of cultivating 
and caring for their land. The development of transportation facili- 
ties, the lowering of freight rates in the rail and lake and canal trans- 
portation, has made it possible to bring products from the West at 
such a low price that it has been impossible on the rough and rock}' 
New England soils to compete. 

Another very important contributing cause has been in the increase 
in the numl)er and size of factories. It is unquestionable that the 
social conditions of New England have changed in the past few years — 
that the growth of the factor}^ system, that the increase in wages, that 
the lesser cost of the products of the mills, the increase in the number 
and variety of articles that are considered necessary for comfort and 
health, the general increase in the cost of living, the general feeling 
of discontent, and the unwillingness to remain in the quiet and labo- 
rious life of the farm have all had their influence. 

It seems to me that of all the causes that have contributed to the 
abandonment of the lands in New England there is no other factor 
that has been more potent, more important than this one, of the suc- 
cess of individuals in the commercial and industrial lines, and the 
apparent ease and comfort and luxury of their lives as compared with 
the laborious and simple life of even the successful farmer. 

Q. (By Mr. Kennedy.) I read in the public press a short time since 
that the abandoned farms of New England were being taken up again 
at a very low price; that those who had abandoned them and gone to 
the West in man}" cases were returning and trying; to get the old 
homesteads, and that if they could not do that they were buying 
abandoned farms in the neighborhood, and in one of the New England 
States, in Massachusetts or Connecticut, there was not now a single 
a})andoned farm. — A. I think there is a reaction going on, but I should 
think that statement rather overdrawn. Unquestionably, however, I 
think there will be a reaction, and that the lands will be taken up. 

Q. (By Mr. Phillips.) Have not a considerable portion of those 
lands ))een taken up b}" French Canadians in recent years? — A. Yes; 
they have. One other point I wish to convey to the commission is that 
the lands in themselves are not worn out; they are in no worse con- 
dition. It is other conditions, and not the actual exhaustion of plant 
food, by which they are affected. 

Q. (By Mr. Clarke.) Is it not a fact that the products of agriculture 
in the manufacturing sections of New England are worth more to-day 
than they ever were before? — A. Do you mean of wheat and grain 
and fruit? 

Q. I mean all crops grown b}^ farmers, including of course, truck 
farming. — A. Well, I should say not, so far as the general farming 



EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 19 

goes. Special industries are exceedingly important in the New Eng- 
land States, and I had aimed to speak of that fact in mj' suggestions 
for the amelioration of the conditions. 

Q. Instead of manufacturing having the effect of depopulating the 
farms and of rendering agriculture unpopular, is it not true that 
manufacturing affords so good a market to the farmer near his farm 
that by changing his agriculture somewhat he finds it more profitable 
than ever before ? — A. Have you not really given the key to the whole 
situation, namely, that they have not changed their method; they have 
persisted — -farmers are a conservative class — in attempting to compete 
with the West, when they should have specialized and have met the 
changed conditions that have confronted them? 

Q. My observation, as a New England man, reared upon a Vermont 
farm and an annual visitor to that State, and somewhat familiar with 
conditions in Massachusetts, where more manufacturing is carried on, 
is the reverse of that, and it is that they do conform to existing con- 
ditions and are making more mone}" than they eyev made before. 
Now, if I am wrong about that 1 hope that you or somebody else in 
the Department of Agriculture can enlighten the country on that sub- 
ject. A few years ago a Professor Perry, of Williams College, made 
the statement that one-third of the farm lands from the summit of the 
Green Mountains in Vermont eastward to the Connecticut River had 
been abandoned. I contradicted it at the time from personal knowl- 
edge. That is one of the most favorable regions in this country. 
There is scarcely an abandoned farm to be found there, and agricul- 
ture near that region, while it has undergone some changes, is more 
profitable than ever before, and I would like to know why it is. As 
you sa}^, the soils continue to be fertile and productive, and the mar- 
kets haA'e improved, and transportation facilities have improved; why 
is it, then, that the people will persist in claiming that there is a large 
abandonment of profitable agriculture in that region of the country? 
I undertake to say that it is not true, but that the exact reverse is 
true. 

Q. (By Mr. Phillips.) Is it or is it not the fact that the price of 
lands both in New England and the Central States, Pennsylvania, New 
York, and Ohio, are not nearly as valuable and would not bring as 
much per acre to-da}" as the}^ would twenty-five or thirty years ago, 
or even before the war? — A. Generally, the land values have fallen, 
but in specific cases they have risen or have maintained their level. 
And in manj^ cases in the New England States it is unquestionable 
that very important industries have been created there, notabh^ the 
tobacco interests of the Connecticut Valley, which we have lately had 
under consideration, the area of which we have recently mapped; also 
the truck interests along the Sound, around Providence, around Bos- 
ton, are very important, and the fruit interests of the Lower Connecti- 



20 EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 

cut Valley, particularly the peaches, have all been exceedingly profit- 
able, and I hope I did not conve}^ the impression that I believed myself 
that there was any such general abandonment of lands as has been 
frequently stated in the press, because 1 think myself that there are 
many industries in the New England States now that are very impor- 
tant. It is certainly our most important tobacco section — the most 
important for wrapper tobacco — the finest we get in this country. 

Q. Is it not a fact that throughout New England when a farm has 
been abandoned as a home it has been annexed to some neighboring 
farm and still carried on as a farm? Is not that almost universally 
the case? — A. I would not say universal, but it is generally the case; 
yes. There can be no question, however, that, particularly in the last 
ten years, twelve years, there has been a period in New England in 
which agriculture has been at a low stage, and that there have been 
many abandoned tracts, and many people who have moved away. I 
have tried to show that these conditions are due to causes other than 
the poverty of the soil, which I do not believe in at all, and that there 
is no reason why they should not build up the industry of that country 
and make it as profitable as, and far more profitable b}^ adjusting it to 
these new conditions, than it ever was. 

Q. Now, I would like your estimate of the proportion, the relative 
importance of the causes which you have named which have con- 
tributed to this soil abandonment. Is it not, in your opinion, mainly 
due to the competition of the more fertile lands of the West — that is, 
the more easily tilled lands? — A. I should give that as the first cause, 
and I should give as the second cause, the increase in the factories, 
and the demoralizing effect of the factory life and of the factory wages 
upon the farm people. There is a demoralization ; it is more a panic 
than anything else; they have not the mature sense of perspective, the 
vision of what can be accomplished if the}^ take new opportunities 
which have come to them. It is common through our Eastern States. 
It is a restless feeling that their old conditions have been changed, and 
a lack of that business planning and management that will enable them 
to fit their agriculture to new conditions. 

Q, Do you think that the young men leave the farms in New Eng- 
land for the factories ? — A. I think so. 

Q. Have you any information on that subject? — A. I speak from 
my experience in New England. I lived in New England for many 
summers when I was a youth, and I have frequently visited there, as 
it is the home of my father. I spent two years at the Connecticut 
experiment station when these matters were under consideration, and 
have also done work since in the Connecticut Valley and in the truck 
areas of Boston and Providence. 

Q. It may be true so far as the machine shops are concerned, and a 
few other skilled manufacturing industries. Is not the reverse true 



EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OP SOILS. 21 

SO far {18 the textile industries are concerned ^ — A. I should say that 
there is a general feeling among the farm boys in New England that 
they want the higher education. They want to get into and take up 
the professions. There is a great ambition on the part of the young 
men to go to an institute and to get into electrical works at the present 
time, because the young fellows that they may have been acquainted 
with are now getting high wages; and there is a desire among the 
young people of New England, so far as I have seen, to get into these 
commercial and industrial lines rather than remain on the farms, 
except where they are situated in communities in which special crops 
and special agricultural interests are being developed. 

Q. Is it your opinion, then, that the system of education in New 
England is defective — that it tends to work against the best interests 
of agriculture? — A. That is a very difficult question to answer. It is 
a notable thing that few of the young men who go to the colleges for 
their so-called higher education attempt in any wav to lit themselves 
for the farm, and a very striking case of that is found in the small 
number of students who have attended the agricultural courses at Yale 
University, which has had a permanent endowment for the purpose of 
agricultural education, and who have gone out from there as farmer 
boys. Harvard University maintains an agricultural school and a sci- 
entific or technical school, but there is b}^ far a greater attendance at 
the technical school, as there is at the classical college, than there is at 
the agricultural courses. This is a question, of course, of the eflfect of 
education on farm life, which is widespread; it is found in all schools 
of the country. M}^ own belief is that the education we are giving 
our boys is not calculated to make the best farmers, and that we are 
rather leading them away from the farm. I think there is a tendency 
the other way now, because we are showing that there are possibilities 
in agriculture that have never before been realized. We are showing 
them that there are possibilities of making money, for one thing — of 
earning salaries that are commensurate in ever}^ way with salaries paid 
to professional men. If we get a tobacco expert now we have to pay 
$3,000 or $4,000. Six thousand dollars is paid to some of the managers 
of tobacco estates in the South. The practical growers will willingly 
pay $3,000 or $4,000 to a man who can manage their estates and make 
them productive; and the same may be said in other lines of agricul- 
ture. In fruit and in dairy interests they think little now of paying 
$4,000 to $5,000 for experts in difierent lines — men who can make them 
successful. These possibilities now are opening up to young men, and 
they see opportunities for remunerative work. We have recently tried 
to get tobacco experts in the Department of Agriculture, and it has 
been necessary for us to pay $4,000 to get a man who is qualified for 
the work. The Secretary' has been desirous of having men trained, 
and I have presented the matter to several young men, and they have 



22 EXHAUSTIOK AND ABANDOISTVIENT OF SOILS. 

agreed to come at low salaries, $40 a month — 3'oung men from colleges, 
and they are going to put themselves under the direction of this 
tobacco expert. They are going into the tobacco sheds and are going 
to learn how to handle the tobacco, and after they have acquired a 
practical knowledge they are going to have some training in our la))- 
oratories in the principles underlying the handling and manipidation 
of tobacco. The Secretary says, '"'Train young men for our own use." 
If we train them to make good tobacco experts they will go out from 
us at salaries of $3,000, $-4,000, and $5,000, just as we have lost men 
we have already trained. It is the training, it is the ability of these 
men to produce products wanted now in this highly specialized indus- 
try of tobacco that counts. 

The young men are seeing these opportunities, and we are able to 
get them now readily. They are readily coming to the Department 
because they acquire in our work an intimate knowledge of the opera- 
tions on the farm, of the judging and classification of soils, of the treat- 
ment of alkali and seepage of waters and underdrainage, and of the 
production and managemant of tobacco, and we are having no difficulty 
in getting men who have been trained to some extent. Men are leaving 
positions in which they were getting $1,000 or $1,200 and coming to us 
for $40 a month for the experience they will get and the value it will be 
to them. Some of our young men have had offers at $2,500 or $8,000 
to go out and protect some of these Western lands from alkali, ))ecause 
they know how to handle the question. We have shown our ability to 
handle these questions, which are of so much importance to the people. 
There is one case which I wish to mention later of a sugar factory in 
California, that we found was situated on a delta plain. The owners 
have invested something like $3,000,000 or $4,000,000 in this plant, an 
immense sum, but their lands are underlain by alkali to such an extent 
that when they begin to irrigate, as they are planning to do now, there 
is no question in our minds that they will lose their crops and their 
lands also. Two factories have been shut up within the last two or 
three years from this same cause. They know that there is danger, 
and they offered one of our men a salary of $3,000 just because he 
knew what the trouble was and could handle that matter for them. 

A short while ago Japan took one of our tobacco experts from my 
own Division and gave him $6,000 to go over there to investigate the 
possibilities of raising and manipulating tobacco. They came again 
for another of our tobacco experts and offered him $5,000 to go over 
and develop the interests on the island of Formosa. These things are 
having an effect on the people. They are seeing the possibilities in 
these special industries, and in my opinion the young men are turning 
more to the farm than they have ever done before, simply because 
there is something definite, there is a purpose, and they are willingly 
taking positions in the Department of Agriculture and the experiment 



EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 23 

stations, because they are getting into practical knowledge of these 
affairs. They are acquiring the practical methods and manipulations 
which give them control of these agricultural methods, and they are 
finding that they themselves can handle these industries now in a way 
in which they can make good money, or can get positions of trust and 
responsibility at salaries commensurate with what are being paid in 
commercial and industrial lines. 

Q. (By Mr. Clarke.) Are many of these branches of agricultural 
science capable of being taught in the public schools, say, of the grade 
of high schools and grammar schools ? — A, I think so; and yet it is 
rather difficult to lay out a course or suggest lines of work and of 
teaching. But it seems to me, as you have asked me my opinion on 
this question of education, that we want more agricultural schools, 
and we want, to sav the least, no more agricultural colleges. That is, 
we want the schools right out on the farm lands where the boys work — 
where they are taught to care for products and for crops. When I 
want a tobacco expert I can not go to the agricultural colleges and get 
a 3'oung man who has an}" knowledge of tobacco. I must go to Florida 
or I must go to Pennsylvania, and 1 must pick up an otherwise unedu- 
cated man. and yet that man will command a salary of $2,000, $3,000, 
or $4,000. He is not a college-bred man, but yet he is familiar with 
the manipulation and the details of that work. Now, if I should want 
to educate a young man in tobacco lines, to be a tobacco expert or to 
know how to raise tobacco in the Connecticut Valley, for example, I 
would take him and send him right to Florida, where they have the 
highest type of skill and industry in tobacco, so far as tobacco is 
concerned, of any place in this country. The}' have developed the 
industry along really scientific lines by their practical men. 

Q. Now, most of the high schools of this country, even in the agri- 
cultural regions, have a curriculum chiefl}^ devoted to preparation for 
entering classical colleges. Almost nothing is taught concerning prac- 
tical farming in any line. Is it your opinion that the curriculum 
might be changed to the advantage of the farmer? — A. I think in 
certain cases it could be, and we would be extremely desirous of seeing 
in certain centers farming schools for the education of farming boys. 
If such a school were established in Lancaster County, Pa., under the 
splendid agricultural conditions prevailing there; if the boys could see 
the methods pursued there; if they could go out and actually learn 
how to handle stock, how to handle the soil, and how to handle the 
crops, they would acquire information in this individual locality that 
would be admirable in fitting them to take charge of estates and of 
farm lands of their own in other localities. 

Q. Boys reared upon farms become familiar with practical methods, 
but what opportunity is ofi'ered to them in the neighboring schools to 
become familiar with scientific agriculture? How much chemistry are 
they taught? — A. There is very little. 



24 EXHAUSTION ATSTD ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 

Q. What do they know ulwut soiling- rrops and about the varicms 
plant food.s and animal food.s? Is any of that information taught in 
any of the high .schools in this countiy that you know of? — A. Very 
little or none in any that I am familiar with, even in the agricultural 
districts, 

Q. Then, when the system of education leaves the leading industry 
of a region to the work of ignorance and teaches the youth something- 
else, are they not rather compelled to go out, and are not theii" 
ambitions led out into other pursuits? — A. Yes. 

Q. (By Mr. Phillips.) At present it would be A^ery difficult to have 
teachers qualified in these various rural districts to teach this. They 
would have to be educated for that purpose? — A. It seems to me, 
further, that when these schools are established they do not seem to 
be satisfied to remain schools; they so quickly aspire to the dignity of 
colleges, and from colleges to the dignity of universities. Abroad it 
is much more frequent to see real agricultiu'al schools, a sort of pri- 
mary school in agriculture, or high school in agriculture, where the 
school is situated in a farming district and the methods and thoughts 
are all upon farming lines. You take a young man and put him under 
those conditions and he is likely to be much more contented to follow 
in the pursuits of farming than if you put him into a university like 
Yale University where the farming course, the agricultural course, is 
looked down upon by all other students. Under such conditions the 
young men are not generally satisfied to take a course which is popu- 
larly supposed to be an easy one and one which does not maintain the 
rigorous training that the classical and mathematical lines are sup- 
posed to possess. 

Q. Perhaps we have diverted you most too long. This is very 
interesting. — A. 1 wish 1 had prepared myself a little more on this 
line. I did not think of this coming into the discussion. It is a mat- 
ter that I have often thought of, because I was professor of agriculture 
in South Carolina and always realized that I was not doing my dut}', 
as it seemed to me, in the training of my men, partly Ijecause there is 
no course in agriculture for a professor to take up — he has to make 
one himself — and, secondly, the opportunities are not presented, it 
seems to me, to train people with the particular knowledge that is 
required in any line of agriculture. 

I think that in the New England States, perhaps even more than in 
the Southern States, that restless desire for material advancement and 
the higher education has l)een felt because of the more thickly settled 
condition and other natural conditions which have already been 
referred to. Another contributing cause to the tendency in the New 
England States has been the demoralizing efl'ect of the summer 
boarders. It seems to me there is no question that, while their 
presence has been a benefit to the New England States in the main, it 



EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 25 

ha.s had a demoralizing eftect upon the ag-ricultui-e of the region. 
Furthermore, the severe t-limate of New England has been against the 
development in some cases, and it has had some effect upon the devel- 
opment of the agricultural resources of the area. 

It seems to me perfectly evident that the conditions which have con- 
tributed in any marked way to the depreciation of land values in New 
England have been, first, the development of the West and the lower 
prices for farm produ(tts through the development of the transporta- 
tion systems, and the increase in the number of factories, in the rest- 
less desire of all of our people to a certain extent to leave the quiet 
and laborious life of the farm and enter the busy, hurried world of 
commercial and industrial activities. It is quite evident to me, how- 
ever, that the future for the New England States, as for our Southern 
States, is in the line of specialization. They are close to the markets; 
they are i^eculiarly fitted, as the}^ have already shown, for certain 
special industries; and the line of future development must be in that 
direction. The}^ must give up all thought of competition with the 
general farm crops and nuist look forward to the building up of cer- 
tain industries which their position, their locality, and their conditions 
specifically make possible to be carried on. 

The one case of the Sumatra tobacco, that we succeeded in growing 
last year in the Connecticut Valley, that brought 71 cents a pound 
when the ordinary crop is grown for 20 cents a pound, was a result of 
soil-survey work, in which we thought that the conditions were favor- 
able on a certain soil in the Connecticut Valley for the production of 
this tobacco under certain conditions which we brought about, and the 
result has been successful. So far as we know, there is no other area 
besides Florida and the Connecticut Valley, and only certain soils in 
the Connecticut Vallev, where this industry can be pursued; and it is 
unquestionable in my mind that this industry can be built up, and that 
there is a possibility of producing $6,000,000 worth of tobacco which 
we now import from the island of Sumatra every year. 

I should also mention that the truck interests and the greenhouse 
interests around Boston are verv great. They are enormous industries, 
and large amounts of money are invested in them and large profits 
maintained. 

Mai'yland and Vhgniia. — I come now to the cause of the deteriora- 
tion and abandonment of lands in Marj^land and Virginia. 

The exhaustion of the soils, of which we have heard so much in 
Maryland, Virginia, and the Southern States, is due, unquestionably, 
to improper and injudicious methods of cultivation and cropping. 
This Avill be referred to more at length, under the head of fertilizers, 
when we come to speak of remedial measures. It is also due to the 
decrease in value of farm crops, due in turn to the cheaper production 
in the West and to the reduced cost of transportation, as has been 



26 EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 

referred to in the case of the New England States; also to the increase 
and the development of special industries in other localities — for exam- 
ple, in the production of the White Burley tobacco in Ohio, which 
yields more per acre, is grown at a less cost per pound, and can be sold 
at a cheaper price than the Maryland leaf, and has largely taken the 
place of the Maryland leaf in the foreign markets, particularly in 
the French and Belgians markets. Furthermore, the changes in the 
social conditions due to the civil war and the mortgages which are 
still outstanding against the lands have been a contrilmting cause to 
the abandonment or to the deterioration of many of these areas. It has 
been found possible in many portions of Maryland, with the prevailing- 
crops and methods of cultivation, to obtain a fair interest on the laljor 
and expense of cultivation, but it has been impossible to obtain a living 
from the land if at the same time the interest on mortgages, which 
have been running since the war, has had to be met. And 1 know of 
once prosperous communities in southern Maryland where they could 
still be successful, where they could produce sufficient to maintain 
families without stint and with a fair degree of comfort, but where 
nearly all the farms are mortgaged as an inheritance of 30 years ago, 
and it is impossible to support the families and to pay oif the mort- 
gages at the same time. Areas now are being abandoned from that 
cause throughout Maryland and the South. 

One of the most important causes of deterioration, however, and 1 
think 1 should put this first of all, is the method and system of agri- 
culture that prevails throughout these States. The Division of Soils 
made a careful soil survey with soil maps of two of the counties of 
southern Maryland this year — St. Mary County and Calvert County — 
and of Lancaster Countj^, Pa. ; and the study of the conditions which 
have prevailed and the methods, particularly, which have been used in 
these two areas has been a matter of consideral)le interest to me. In 
the first place, I would state that the soils of southern Maryland are 
in no way exhausted in the sense that that term is generally used — 
that is, a chemical analysis shows that they have sufticient plant food 
for innumerable crops and that there is apparently no lack of plant 
food in the soil. Unquestionably the soil has been abused, the meth- 
ods of cultivation and of cropping have been injudiciously selected, 
and the soils are not now as productive as they should be. There is 
one area in particulai- of a certain soil with a heavy subsoil in St. Mary 
County, probably about 40 per cent of the area of the county, that is, 
in ni}^ opinion, as valuable in its way, and in nmch the same way, as 
the limestone soil of Pennsylvania. This soil in St. Mary County 
sells for from $1 to $3 per acre in forest, as it usually is, or for a])out 
$10 per acre where it is under cultivation, while the soils in Lancaster 
County sell now at from $125 to $250 an acre. 

Q. (B}^ Mr. Phillips.) That is chiefly for tobacco, is it? — A. Yes; 
chiefly for tobacco. It is fit for general crops, but tobacco is grown in 



EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 27 

places. But on the soil in St. Mary County there haye been several 
good farms that haye been well kept up. The Maryland farmer grows 
on soils in good condition from 15 to 20 bushels of wheat; he grows 
clover; he grows tobacco, and he gets from 6 to 10 cents a pound for 
the tobacco. The Pennsylvania farmer grows from 25 to 35 bushels 
of wheat; he grows clover and grass, as in Maryland, under good 
treatment; and he grows tobacco, for whicii he gets from to 10 cents 
a pound also. He gets the same price, ])ut a larger j^eld. It is 
heavier tobacco. Now, from consideration of the crops that are 
obtained from this southern Mar3dand area, and of the staple crops 
and of the yields and values obtained from the soils of Lancaster 
Count}', Pa., it seems to me evident that the soils of southern Mary- 
land ought to have a relatively higher value; and the reason why they 
have not is largely, in my opinion, because of the social conditions 
and the methods of farming. If you go into the home of a Lancaster 
County farmer and sit down to dinner with him, he has an abundance 
of food in great variety. Everything, the chances are, has been 
grown upon his own farm. The meat has been raised by himself, the 
vegetables have been grown in his garden or in his fields, the pre- 
serves, or whatever they may have for their dessert, have been made 
by their families from the products of their garden. Even the sugar, 
the chances are, has been produced on the place, and actually nothing 
))ut the tea, coffee, salt, and pepper have been purchased that goes to 
make up the family meal. The families as a rule are large. They 
have a good many children. The bo3^s and girls are all brought up to 
work on the farm. It is the rarest thing that any of them leave the 
community or leave the farm. They stay there and the}^ marry. It 
is a common thing for them to settle on a portion of the farm or on 
some neigh):)oring farm. The farms are small, and labor is all done 
b}' the owner and his family. The girls are all brought up to look 
after the house. There is no expense for servants. Thay have their 
garden and their fruit. They put up their preserves and their apple 
butter, and such things for their winter use. We find that very few 
products are sold from Lancaster County; very few things are sent 
out of the county except tobacco and stock. And the}' not only feed 
up all their corn and hay that they grow to the stock, but they import 
it often from other States and from other countries, so that they can 
raise more stock and make more beef and mutton. Most of the prod- 
ucts of the farm, including the wheat, which is ground up for flour in 
adjoining mills, are used on the farm or manufactured there into some 
sort of product that is sold or is used up in the district. There are 
manufactures and industries which require to be kept up in the large 
city of Lancaster and many smaller towns, in which there is a ready 
market for everything that is produced in the county, and the inter- 
esting thing is that this supply and demand is nearly equal, so that 
very little is sent out of the county and very little is brought in. The 



28 EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 

result 18 that it is a happj' and contented and prosperous community. 
The lands have been handed down from generation to generation for 
ages and people seldom think of leaving the place. They are a con- 
tented and happy and prosperous people. 

In Maryland the methods are altogether different. In the first place 
the Maryland farm is seldom worked by the man who owns it. There 
is for some reason an unfortunate prejudice which prevails in many 
localities, at any rate in Maryland, for a man who actually goes into 
the field and works his land. He usually has an overseer, a man who 
is paid to look after and direct his interests instead of doing this him- 
self. Frequently he has not even so much control over his interests, 
and lets his land out to a tenant farmer who farms it in his own way, 
by his own methods and for a portion of the crop, and occasionally for 
a money consideration. The crops grown are the ordinary staple 
crops of general agriculture. They have corn, wheat, and tobacco. 
The competition from the West and the low prices of wheat and corn 
make them scarcely profitable. The competition with the Ohio 
tobacco and the general specialization which has taken place in the 
tobacco industry, and the necessity of producing something that is 
peculiarly adapted to a certain market or to a certain demand, has 
lowered the price of the Maryland tobacco. Now^, after the Marjdand 
farmer has raised these three things he has done, as he thinks, the best 
he can and he has nothing further to consider for his development. 
The corn is fed mainly to his work stock, and it all goes to that and 
his own labor. The wheat is sold and sent off' the farm in exchange 
for flour, which he buys at a consideral)le increase in cost over what it 
would have cost him if he could have had it ground in his own neigh- 
borhood. The tobacco, of course, is sold and goes out in exchange for 
productions of all kinds for himself and his family. He buys his 
meat, he buys his groceries, and he frequently buys the vegetables 
that he should have raised in his garden. 

There is no comparison with the conditions in a prosperous com- 
munity like Lancaster County and the improvident methods that pre- 
vail in some of our Maryland counties and Virginia communities. 
There is no comparison whatever in the economical methods that are 
employed, and it seems to me that one of the most important contrib- 
uting causes to the abandonment and impoverishment of the lands in 
Maryland and Virginia and of many of the Southern States is due to 
this one fact, that they do not use the same thrifty methods that have 
marked the success in Lancaster County and in many other counties 
of the Northern States. 

****** * 

Professor Whitney (after recess, resuming). At the time of the 
adjournment or recess I had compared the methods and system of 
agriculture prevailing in the southern counties of Maryland with the 



EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 29 

system prevailing in Lancaster County, Pa., and had drawn some sug- 
gestions as to the cause of the differences in the land values in the two 
localities. In following out our soil investigation and the mapping of 
lands, we find the same limestone soil which is so productive and 
valuable in Pennsjdvania extending down to the Hagerstown Valley 
of Maryland and down thi'ough the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. 
They have the same character of soil, essentially the same climatic 
conditions, and yet the soils of the valley of Virginia are selling to- 
day at from $10 to $20 an acre — rarely more than $40 or |50 an acre — 
while the farm prices in Lancaster County have been maintained about 
where they were — about as high as they ever have been — and I can not 
say that this is due to any cause connected with the soil, but conclude 
that it is due almost entirely to social conditions, to the respect agricul- 
ture has in the community, to the thrifty methods employed by the 
people, and the way in which the occupation is esteemed. 

DETERIORATION OF SOILS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. 

Undoubtedly, the system that prevailed for so many years in the 
South was satisfactory under the conditions prevailing some years 
ago, but certainly, with the rapid and phenomenal advance and 
improvement in industrial lines and in the improvement of trans- 
portation facilities, the old methods are no longer applicable. The 
trouble in this case, it seems to me, is a lack of business method, want 
of appreciation of changed conditions and of business perception of 
opportunities that could be taken up and made productive. 

In the States farther south than Maryland and Virginia there have 
been other causes which have operated in this same direction. In the 
first place, the kind of crop and the clean cultivation that have been 
given to the cotton crop have caused a tremendous oxidation and loss 
of the organic matter, and the soil is left relatively poor in these 
organic substances that are necessary for the normal weathering of 
the soil material and the preparation of the plant food into a form 
that is readily available to plants. It has also caused in many areas 
the erosion and washing of lands that has proved destructive to very 
considerable areas in the Southern States. There is one condition 
which has also prevailed against the competition with the South in 
certain lines of general agriculture— that is, the unfavorable climatic 
conditions for grain crops. The normal yield of grain in the South 
is about one-third of what it is in the Northern States. This is due 
to the fact, so far as we can see, that the greater humidity and larger 
rainfall are bringing about conditions favoring extensive leaf develop- 
ment rather than the production of grain. In the Northern States 
the cold, frosty nights are liable to occur about the time the plant has 
obtained its full development, and this condition favors the produc- 
tion of fruit, as is well known in all life functions. Where there is 



30 EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS, 

danger of the destruction of the plant it tends to reproduce itself in 
the formation of seed. In the Southern States, with the more equable 
climate, with the higher temperature, higher rainfall, and generally 
higher humidity, there is a persistent effort to the production of vege- 
table growth and a distinctly less chance of the production of grain 
and seeds. While this is natural, it is by no means necessary, for the 
largest yield of corn on record is from South Carolina, where there 
was an abundant growth — abundant vegetative growth — which was 
checked by methods of cultivation at the proper time — that is, the 
tendency to vegetative growth being checked, the plant produced 
seed in proportion to the vegetative growth, and the yield was phe- 
nomenal; and it has seemed to me at times as though by a change in 
the method of cultivation — by some mechanical checking of the 
growth — that the vegetative growth could be checked and the yield 
could be largely increased. However that may be, *he fact remains 
that the climatic conditions in the South have never been favoral)le to 
a large yield of grain. 

I have presented to the commission now the principal causes that 
operate in the exhaustion and abandonment of soils. These several 
lines, of course, operate in different proportions in different parts of 
the countr3^ In nearly all localities one or more of the causes that I 
have mentioned .have operated at the same time to produce the deteri- 
oration, if not the abandonment, of soils. 

METHODS FOR RECLAMATION. 

1 come now to the conditions of reclamation .and (jertain recommen- 
dations that it seems desirable to make. 

Q. (By Mr. Phillips.) Before proceeding with that I should like to 
bring up a question which has ])een touched upon. You said in the early 
part of your testimony that in England the soils had not deteriorated; 
that the growers raised about the same amount on the land in the last 
twenty years as they had for forty or fifty years — about 15 bushels. Is 
there an3"thing in the climate favoring England in this respect ^ Would 
the climate in Virginia and Pennsylvania have the same power or force? 
Is it on account of the damp, or are the climatic conditions there differ- 
ent from ours? — A. Yes; the climatic conditions have a great deal to 
do with it. 

Q. Then you would not, therefore, claim that 15 bushels could be 
raised on good wheat land in Pennsylvania, as is the case in England? — 
A. No; but what I say is that under given climatic conditions and 
with a given soil, a soil even without fertilizer, there would be a cer- 
tain grain yield that would be maintained for a good manj' years; 
indefinitely, so far as we know. It might be 5 bushels to the acre or it 
might be 10, or it might be 15. It happens to be that under the con- 
ditions in England in this one experiment it was 12 bushels. 



EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 31 

Q. I know of farms that have become quite poor on the hills because 
of the water. England being more level, perhaps the conditions would 
be more favorable? — A. In this experiment that I cite, 3^es; it was 
conducted on a level tract. 

FERTILIZATION. 

Q. Pardon the interruption and proceed. — A. The first method that 
I will speak of in the reclamation of lands, although in ni}- opinion not 
the most important, is the subject of fertilization. The primaiy object 
of fertilization is the improvement or adaptation of soils to the culti- 
vation of any desired crop or crops. As I have shown, all soils have 
a natural fertility which can probably be maintained under an}^ condi- 
tion of cultivation for an indefinite number of years. Very frequently 
this natural fertility is so low that it is unprofitable to raise a particu- 
lar crop, as so little is obtained from the soil that it does not pa}" for 
the attention given to it. Frequently, also, on a veiy rich soil the aim- 
is to force the crop, and we call it intensive cultivation — that is, we 
may have a soil which will produce a large crop, and yet we want to 
force it to produce all it can. It is like the fattening of stock. We 
can produce a fairly good animal on our ranges, but if we take an 
animal and feed it up with concentrated food mixed in the proper 
proportions for a good diet we can put fat and flesh on it which will 
make it far more profitable than if we had depended upon the natural 
food of the localit3\ It is so with soils. We can unquestionably 
force the fertility far beyond the natural limit and far be3'Ond the 
ordinar}' limits of crop production. This we see particularly in the 
truck crops, where the poor, barren sands are highly fertilized and 
where large crops are grown from what would naturalh' be considered 
a poor soil. In this sense the effect of fertilization is a simple addition 
of plant food to the soil in such' form that the crops can immediately 
use it. But fertilizers have another effect, that of increasing the 
decomposition of the soil particles themselves — that is, the mere addi- 
tion of fertilizers of different kinds may increase the weathering power, 
and the soil itself will disintegrate and decompose under their influence 
faster than it would without their application. 

The specific objects of fertilizing are to obtain an improvement in 
the texture of the soil — that is, frequently a wet refractory clay can 
be made more pliable, more easily handled; drainage is improved. 
Frequently also loose soil may be made more compact and more reten- 
tive of moisture. At times also the influence of the fertilizers is felt 
more in balancing up the ratio. We have in Maryland and Pennsj'l- 
vania small areas of lands that are derived from the disintegration of 
serpentine rocks that carry a large proportion of magnesia; and it has 
been found that where the amount of magnesia is in excess of the 
amount of lime plants rarely do well and frequently are an entire 



32 EXHATT8TI()N AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 

failure. In .such case the application of lime simply to reverse the 
ratio and make lime a predominating ingredient in the soil will restore 
the fertility of the land. Very frequently also, and probably more 
often even than we now suppose, soil is acid. It has been found that 
the soils of Rhode Island are very generally acid, and the addition of 
lime simply to neutralize this acidity will promote the fertility of the 
land in a very remarkable degree. This same cause of acidity of the 
soil is found now to be much more prevalent than we have heretofore 
supposed to be the case. The fertilizers that are commonly available 
are farm products — that is, stable manures and green manures, which 
are used to a very considerable extent and are both exceedingl}^ impor- 
tant in the list of fertilizing materials. Then we have the commercial 
products, such as guano, ground bone, potash, and then the mineral 
fertilizers other than lime, and then lime, marls, and gypsum. It will 
hardly be necessary for me to go into the question of the fertilizer 
laws. As the commission knows, most of the Eastern States have 
rather stringent laws about the inspection and sale of fertilizers; and 
this subject has been taken up by the Department of Agriculture with 
the idea of having a more uniform system of laws, if possible, and 
with some idea of having national laws for the interstate commerce 
and trade. I am not at all sure how far this has gone, and 1 therefore 
do not feel competent to speak upon it. 

Another series of fertilizing agents is found in the bacteria and 
other ferments. This newly discovered nitrogen is really a pure 
culture of bacteria, which have, by reason of their activities in the 
soil, rendered available the plant food — that is, they increase the weath- 
ering of the rocks and also add to some extent (we do not know how 
much) nitrogen from the air, converting it into some form in which it 
can be used by the plants. 

ROTATION OF CROPS. 

Still another method which I would call to 3'our attention b}^ which 
reclamation of these waste lands can be realized is in the rotation of 
crops. There is no question whatever but that in general a rotation 
or a cnange in the crops grown on soils is of value in preventing undue 
waste and undue extraction of certain elements of plant food and the 
undue tendency for cultivation in a particular way, and unquestiona- 
bly where intelligent rotation of crops can be inaugurated it is one of 
the most desirable things to do. There are instances, however, in 
which the same crop has been grown on the same land for many years 
without any apparent deleterious effect. On the eastern side of the 
Connecticut River, near Hartford, they have grown the broad-leaf 
tobacco continuously for 25 years on the same land, and they claim 
that the quality of the tobacco as well as the yield is as fine as it was 
at the beginning — even better. 

Q. Is that done without fertilizing if — A, No; that is with fertilizing. 



EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 33 

Q, (By Mr. Farquiiar.) Why is it that the tobacco soils of Vir- 
ginia here are almost worthless to-day for raising anything? — A. The 
deterioration of the tobacco lands of Virginia is due more to the gen- 
eral methods of cultivation, which have not looked forward to the 
maintenance of the fertility of the land or to the proper physical con- 
ditions. You will find it almost universally believed in Maryland and 
Virginia that tobacco is a very exhausting crop and has ruined their 
soils. On the contrary, if you go to Ohio, or Kentucky, or Pennsyl- 
vania, or Connecticut, you will find that it is the one crop which they 
value as a renovator for their soil. This is, in my opinion, due to the 
fact that they take so nuich care of their tolmcco lands. They culti- 
vate them so carefully, so perfectly, and so thoroughly; they fertilize 
them so heavily in order to maintain a good yield and a good quality, 
that the land has actually improved in spite of the relatively large 
amount of plant food removed by the crop. I think unquestionably it 
is a matter of culture rather than of any other one factor. If the Vir- 
ginia farmers took as good care of their land as they do in other local- 
ities there would be no suggestion of deterioration of their soils. 
But they plant tobacco with little or no fertilizer, or manure, usually 
without much organic matter. They give the land a clean cultivation 
and leave it exposed for a considerable portion of the year; and the 
consequence is that it is not maintained in that vigorous condition in 
which these necessary changes go on as they should, and the soil is 
said to be worn out. It is not the loss of plant food; it is a change in 
the physical and chemical condition of the soil brought about by indif- 
ferent methods of cultivation. 

SPECIALIZATION OF CROPS. 

One of the most important methods for the reclamation of aban- 
doned and exhausted lands is in the specialization of crops. By this I 
do not mean the exclusive growing of one crop without regard to all 
other conditions, but I do mean the adaptation of the particular crop 
or crops that the land is best suited to, and specialization in that par- 
ticular industiy. I shall cite in support of this position the truck 
industry, which has reclaimed vast areas of lands in the Atlantic States. 
Twenty-five or thirty years ago the sandy soils along the Atlantic coast 
were worth about $1 or |1.50 an acre. I remember myself well when 
they were worth no more than this. By the introduction of the truck 
crops — that is, the growing of vegetables for our early markets — those 
lands have risen in value until now they are the most valuable soils in 
those States, selling anywhere from $50 to $500 an acre, according to 
their location with regard to the water, freedom from frost, and in 
regard to the markets and transportation facilities. 

Q. (By Mr. Phillips.) You do not mean in the primitive state, but 

4685— No. TO— 01 3 



34 EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OV SOILS. 

that under a .state of cultivation they are worth that amount? — A. 
Yes; 1 mean that the same land that was worth $1 an acre is now worth 



Q. B}^ reason of cultivation, and not in the natural state? — A. 
In the natural state. Any soil that is suitably located for truck farm- 
ing, especially near the water, and where there is a freedom from frost 
and where the transportation facilities are adequate, is worth that in 
its natural state. 

1 should also state a similar fact as to the case of the pineapple indus- 
try in Florida. There is a narrow strip of sand along- the coast in the 
southern part of the peninsula of Florida that was formerly compara- 
tively worthless. It is simply ])each sand thrown up by the tide in 
former times, and is in a ridge about 15 or 20 feet high. It is white, 
like glass sand, and to the Northern farmer w-ould be just as barren 
and unpromising as anj^thing could he. B}^ the introduction of pine- 
apples these lands have been redeemed, and a very line variety of pine- 
apple can be grown upon them. They are worth now anywhere from 
$200 to $1,000 an acre, according as to whether they are set in pine- 
apples or whether they are wild lands. Even the wild lands, covered 
with the native jungle, will sell now for from $100 to $200 an acre 
when favorably located. I know^ of no more striking illustration of 
the possibilit}' of specialization in the reclamation of waste and aban- 
doned lands than this instance of the pineapple industry of Florida. 

Q. Are the}^ fertilized ? — A. Fertilized very heavily. The sand is 
used simpl}^ as a medium apparently for the fertilizers that are put on. 
The}^ Avould be of no value for general crop, but are of exceptional 
value for this one crop, because there is no other soil which can com- 
pare with them in the possibilities of growing pineapples of the supe- 
rior quality that is grown on them. 

Q. That strip is in the southern portion of the State, is it not; 
below Palm Beach? — A. Just above Palm Beach. It begins about 
there. It extends from eTensen down to Palm Beach. 

I would also cite the case of the bright-tobacco industry in the South. 
Man}^ areas that were formerly of little value and considered very 
unproductive have been developed by the introduction of that indus- 
try and are now worth more than they were formerl}", and are the 
most productive and valuable lands in that section. In this case, also, 
it is a special adaptation of a particular kind of crop to a particular 
soil. The bright tol)acco can not be grown successfuU}^ on all soils. 
It is contined to certain soils with certain peculiarities, and they hap- 
pen frequently to be conditions which are unfavorable for the general 
agricultural crops, fortunately. 

I would cite another instance of the cultivation of tobacco in the 
Connecticut Valley. On the light, sandy soils a fine grade of wrapper 
leaf is produced which can not l)e grown on the tobacco lands of 



EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 35 

Pennsylvania or of Maryland. It i.s confined to that one locality of 
the Connecticut Valley and the Housatonic Valley, and is a special 
industr}'^ that seems to be adapted to that place. The introduction in 
1865 of the Sumatra tobacco from the island of Sumatra has had an 
effect upon the tobacco industry of the Connecticut Valle}'. The fine 
texture and fine A'eins and the working qualities of this Sumatra tobacco 
have been so appreciated b}^ the cigar manufacturers that it has been 
imported in increasing amounts ever since in spite of the revenue dut}^ 
of $1.85 per pound on all that is brought into this country. In other 
words, the cigar manufacturers prefer pa3dng |2.50 or $3 a pound for 
Sumatra tobacco to pajdng 18 cents or 20 cents for the Connecticut 
leaf, although, as far as quality goes, the Connecticut leaf is pre- 
ferred- by man3\ Now, it has seemed to me that the industry in the 
Connecticut Valley was threatened. The trade wants this Sumatra 
type of tobacco, and have been giving but a low price for the Con- 
necticut leaf. One dollar a pound is paid for the Sumatra and 11.85 
a pound is paid as duty upon it. We take onl}" the best that they 
have, and there is more and more a feeling against the use of the 
domestic leaf. 

Realizing this condition and the necessity of successfully competing 
with the Sumatra tobacco, the Department of Agriculture two or three 
years ago looked around for the possilnlity of raising a Sumatra tobacco 
in this country which would prevent the importation of such large 
quantities from that island, and we decided to try a particular soil in 
the Connecticut Valley. 

Last year we procured some Sumatra seed and planted it under a 
shed. This shed was erected at a height of about 9 feet, and was covered 
with cheese cloth so as to partially protect the plants from the sun and 
maintain a very quiet and humid air. The tobacco was grown and 
cured by the methods used in Florida and in Sumatra and Cuba — a 
combination of the diflercnt methods — and it was pronounced by experts 
in New York and Philadelphia to he fully equal to the Sumatra leaf 
that is imported. We confidently expect to be a))le to establish an 
industry in the Connecticut Valley upon certain soils adapted to this 
very fine leaf, in which we hope to be able to successfully compete 
with the Sumatra tobacco, which we import to the extent of $6,000,000 
a year in addition to the duties. 

Q. Could it be profitablj^ produced by covering the ground with 
canvas as you describe? — A. Yes; the profits are good. 

Q. Could it be produced without the covering? — A. No; that is 
necessar}^ in order to change the climatic conditions to get the par- 
ticular growth that we want. Even with the expense of $500 an acre, 
which we estimate for the first cost, the profits are likely to be large. 
We estimate this year $1,400 worth of tobacco from our experimental 
crop of one- third of an acre. 



36 EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 

Q. Have you sought any lands in the South where the climatic con- 
ditions would be somewhat similar to those of Sumatra without the 
canvas? — A. Yes; some Sumatra leaf is being grown in Florida, and 
the growers are getting large yields. Their iinest wrappers are bring- 
ing from $2 to $4 a pound. 

Q. The}^ raise it, then, without canvas? — A. No; with canvas there 
also. The climatic conditions during the growing season arc not very 
different in Connecticut and in I'lorida. It is the same hot, tropical 
weather. 

Q. (By Mr. Clarke.) Is that cheese cloth strong enough to pro- 
tect the leaves from hail? — A. There is no ill effect from hail, except 
possibly an exceptional storm. There is no injur}- from wind or from 
insects or worms of an}- kind. The protection is carried all the way 
down the sides. There is a gate Avith an opening for men and teams. 
It is entirely covered with canvas, and it is a perfect protection against 
all extraneous conditions. 

Q. (By Mr. Phillips.) It would be liable to destruction by storm, 
would it not? — A. In a very severe storm such as they had two or 
three years ago in Florida, where one of those Gulf towns was 
destroyed by the ffoods that came up, they were destroyed to a con- 
siderable extent; but ours in the Connecticut Valley last year with- 
stood the most severe storms. Any ordinary storm has no eff'ect on it. 

Q. (By Mr. Clarke.) Can 3'ou give the expense of constructing and 
maintaining these canvas coverings? — A. The first cost is between 
'1^200 and $.500 an acre. That seems rather a wide margin, but it 
depends on the cost of the lumber. In the South, where they have 
the sawmills right on the place and where lumber is cheap, it costs 
about $200 an acre for the shed. In the North it will not exceed |500 
an acre, and the shed will last about five years. The cheese cloth will 
cost about 1100 an acre, and has to be renewed each year. 

Q. (By Mr. Phillips.) Is it taken down in the winter season? — A. 
The cheese cloth is hardly worth preserving. 

Q. (By Mr. Clarke.) Are those coverings for each row or are they 
broad enough to cover several rows? — A. The covering goes entirely 
over the field. It is 9 feet high, so that horse cultivation is carried on 
under the shed just as it would be in the open air. It may be a 10- 
acre field or it may be a 30-acre field, but the entire field is covered. 

Q. Like a great greenhouse, then? — A. It has the effect of a great 
greenhouse. The sunlight and the sun heat is very much reduced and 
modified, and the air is a stagnant and moist air, humid, because there 
is no wind to carry off' the moisture or change the air. The condi- 
tions there are really tropical. The plants keep on growing, and in 
the Connecticut Valley they went right up to the top of the roof; that 
is, they were 9 feet high. 

Q. (B}^ Mr. Kennedy.) What is the ordinary height of tobacco 
plants? — A. Ordinarily, about 4 feet. 



EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 37 

Q. (By Mr. Phillips.) This cheese cloth does not prevent the rain 
going- through? — A. No; it does not prevent the rain, but it does pre- 
vent evaporation, and it conserves the moisture so that the crops do 
not suffer as much from drought as the}^ do on the outside. It is also 
a protection against frost. Indeed a covering of the kind described 
has been used very successfully in the cultivation of pineapples in 
Florida to protect them against frost. It seems to be a method that 
is coming into very extensive use in the protection of crops under 
intensive farming. In the production of truck crops it is getting to 
be used extensively to protect them from frost and to maintain humid 
conditions and protect from drought on the sandy soils. 

Q. In a very large per cent of these the flavor is due to the direct 
rays of the sun. For instance, strawberries would not be market- 
able raised under such conditions? — A. No; I should not think straw- 
berries would. There is some sunlight under the cloth covering, but 
it is not so intense. It is the intense sun in the middle of the day 
that hurts some of our tender vegetables, unless they have plenty of 
moisture. Covered, they have the sunlight, but it is diffused and not 
so intense as it is outside. 

The commission is well aware of the important part celery has played 
in the reclamation of man}^ areas of formerly wet, mucky lands in 
many parts of the country; also the importance of the fruit industry 
in the reclamation of what we considered worthless or abandoned 
lands. 

The introduction of peach culture in western Maryland has created 
an industry there on some of the soils which were formerly of little 
or no value, and where they are now worth anywhere up to $1,000 an 
acre. The location and the character of the soil has made it possible 
to produce a late peach which does not come into competition with the 
peaches from the Eastern Shore and southern Maryland, and which 
has a very fine color and a splendid flavor. These soils are of no value 
for general farm purposes, but they are particularly adapted to the 
production of peaches which ripen late, and which have a good flavor 
and a bright color. 

The commission is also aware of the success of grapes and vineyard 
culture on gravelly soils, and it will hardly be necessary to dilate on 
the importance of this crop as a means of reclaiming such areas. The 
most valued soils along the Rhine are frequently so destitute of soil 
covering that they have to be maintained by stonework, and on these 
very gravelly soils the finest varieties of grapes have been produced. 
Over a large class of soils, particularly in rocky and stony areas, fruit 
trees and grapevines have been found a most important means of 
reclaiming otherwise worthless lands. 

There is one consideration, of course, in the production of fruit 
which must always be considered, and that is the possibility of mar- 
keting. That problem has ])een solved to a considerable extent by 



38 EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 

the possibilities of marketing- the fruit in a dried or canned condition, 
and the exportation of dried fruit is to-day a matter of the greatest 
importance, and one that is increasing in magnitude, especiall}' on the 
Pacific coast, where large and increasing quantities of fruit are being 
consigned to China and Japan. 

REFORESTATION, I'ROTECTION FROM FIRES, ETC. 

Anoth(M' important means for the reclamation of poor or abandoned 
lands is in reforestation and protection from fires and a more rational 
method of cutting the timber. This is a subject which is being 
investigated in the Department of Agriculture, where we have our 
Division of Forestry concerning itself with this one problem; and it 
is one of the important problems applicable to areas in which there 
seems at present to be no other means of improving the land. 

THRIFTY BUSINESS METHODS. 

The question of thrifty methods and efficiency of labor is one that 
is very hard to deal with. I can not understand how, by education or 
by legislation or in any other wa}", thrifty methods can be introduced 
into certain areas that are at present of little value simply because 
the methods are not good. Under present conditions, I do not think 
that any education would make farming in southern Maryland attract- 
ive to a young man. It would be discouraging, no matter what kind 
of education he had, for him to go back and live under the conditions 
that prevail there at the present time. The social conditions are such 
that he can not work with his own hands, and he does not have the 
intelligent or efficient labor to organize and carry out his ideas. He 
is confronted from the start with conditions that are almost hopeless 
for the introduction of new methods and of new crops on a scale com- 
mensurate with the importance of the work and the facilities at his 
command. 

Q. Is the negro population verjMiumerous in southern Maiyland? — 
A. It is quite large. It is the principal but not the only labor, and 
not nearly so large as it is farther south. In ni}^ opinion the impor- 
tance of reclaiming large areas of lands is indicated b}- the necessity of 
more thrifty methods and more businesslike plans than they have at 
the present time in the selection of industries and in the cultivation of 
crops. 

Another very necessary means to the reclamation of lands is busi- 
ness methods and organization in the marketing of crops. The success 
of the truck industry in Norfolk is largely due to the splendid organi- 
zation and to the means b}' which the truck farmers place their crops 
in certain markets, according as the demand maj' be greater in one or 
the other. This is an essential thnig in ti'uck farming, because the 
vegetables can not be held over, but must be marketed or sold as soon 



EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 39 

as they reach maturit}', and they have to be sold for what they will 
bring. The organization of growers gets regular daily returns of the 
market conditions in different cities, and they are able to divide their 
crops and to send a certain portion to this market or to that, accord- 
ing as they think the conditions will stand. It seems to me that this 
organization and the introduction of these business methods are the 
most important factors in the reclamation of abandoned areas and the 
introduction of new crops. 

IRRIGATION. 

The commission is of course quite well aware of the method of 
irrigation which has been so important in the reclamation of certain 
areas in the West. Unfortunately, about all of the available water 
has been already appropriated and is nearly all in use. 

Q. (By Mr. Kennedy.) Is that true? Governor Steunenberg, of 
Idaho, told me a week ago last Sunday that the possibilities of the 
Snake River for irrigation purposes were wonderful, saying they had 
not begun to use the water of the stream up to its full capacity. — A. 
That is so in certain cases. It is so in the case of the Yellowstone 
River also. But nearly all of the water in California and in Wash- 
ington and in certain portions of Arizona and in the Pecos Valley in 
New Mexico is now used to its fullest extent. There are other areas 
in Montana and in Idaho and in Wyoming where there is still some 
available water, 1)ut as a general statement it may be said that the 
available waters are already appropriated and in use, except, as I was 
going to say, such as ma}" be added by the construction of reservoirs 
for the storage of waste waters. 

Q. (By Mr. Phillips.) There are very large possibilities in that 
regard, are there not? — A. Yes; it is estimated that about 7-l:,000,000 
acres can be irrigated by the construction of reservoirs. 

Q. (By Representative Bell.) What are the possibilities of the irri- 
gated soil? — A. The}' are very great for special crops, but they are 
not so very great for our general crops. For instance, it no longer 
pays to irrigate wheat. The principal crops are the fruit crops of all 
kinds, and alfalfa for stock feeding, and special industries of that 
kind. With these special industries the possibilities are enormous. 

The average cost of placing land under irrigation, as shown by the 
last census, was 112.12 per acre, and the annual cost thereafter of 
maintaining the water was $1.07 per acre of the public lands. Newell 
estimates that 7'1,000,000 acres are capable of being irrigated. The 
cost of the opening of this area, taking the average of previous 
experiments, would be $897,000,000. But as the methods of applying 
the water to the land heretofore have been the simplest possible, the 
cost per acre has been much less than the cost will be in the new areas 
that are to be taken up, where the water must be stored and carried 



40 EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 

over long- distances. For the storage of water under the most favor- 
able conditions in Arizona Mr. Lippincott estimates the cost at $4.30 
per acre-foot, and as at least 5 acre-feet of it must be stored for each 
acre in order to provide for two or three seasons of low water, the cost 
would be about $21.50 per acre. I would call your attention to the 
basis of this calculation. It assumes that all of the land that could be 
watered by the storage reservoir shall be actually taken up and put 
under water. If only half of that area is taken up, the cost would be 
twice as great per acre; if onlv a quarter, it would be four times as 
great, and so on. So this cost that is given in the estimates of the 
irrigation engineers is the cost provided all the land possible should 
be taken up and put under water and the rate per acre was paid in to 
the canal compan3^ 

Q. What would be the value of this land after it was put under 
water ?^ — A. It would be from $00 to $100 an acre. 

Q. (By Mr. Phillips.) Notwithstanding the cost of maintaining the 
water afterwards? — A. Yes. 

Q. (By Mr. Kennedy.) In what localities? — A. Through the arid 
regions. This example was in Arizona. Lands in Utah are worth 
from $60 to $100 an acre; and, set out in good varieties of fruit orchards, 
anywhere up to $1,000 an acre. In southern California lands are worth 
generally from $50 to $100 an acre, but many of their orchards are 
worth from $1,000 to $2,000 an aci-e. 

Q. (By Mr. Phillips.) That would be when they were fruit bear- 
ing? — A. Fruit bearing, yes; in fine varieties of fruit. The difficul- 
ties in the way of the extension of irrigation by the construction of 
storage reservoirs are the alkali and the silt in the water. There is no 
question that the amount of alkali in the water is a very serious factor 
in many localities. In the Pecos Valley it has been found that the 
alkali increases in amount as they go down the valley to such an extent 
that in the lower part of the valley the water is entirely unfit for crops. 
In the storage reservoir in which water is stored above the town of 
Carlsbad the evaporation is so great that the salts become concentrated 
in the water, and at the end of a long dr}' season the water is too salty 
to be applied safely to the land. This region, by the way, has the 
highest evaporation of any place in the United States — approximately 
so. Considerable trouble has been experienced also and losses have 
been encountered by the storage of alkali Avaters in California, par- 
ticularl}" in southern California. 

Q. Is that water obtained in the hills and mountains or from the 
rivers? Do you not get pure water from the mountain streams? — A. 
Yes; and tlui Avater in Utah is very pure because there are short rivers 
that come right down from the snow-clad mountains and deliver pure 
water; but in the Pecos Valley the water travels 200 or 300 miles from 
the mountains and gathers up these salts as it goes along. The Pecos 



EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 41 

River is entirely taken up about 6 miles above the town of Carlsbad, 
and 6 miles below the reservoir the stream has about the same flow 
that it has above the reservoir. Frequently out in the Western lands 
the water is entirely used up before it gets down the whole course of 
the river, going- out in seepage and flowing again into the river after 
it has been applied to the land. B}^ the time it gets down to its mouth 
the water is pretty salty. 

There is another difticulty in the storage of water in reservoirs that 
is particularly troublesome in some areas in the West; that is, the 
amount of silt carried by the waters. In our work in Arizona, where 
the waters are very heavily laden with silt, we found a soil that has 
been recognized as a distinct type, which is undoubtedly a sediment 
left b}" the irrigation of some prehistoric race. The old canal systems 
are there and the old irrigation works and the remains of the houses, 
indicating that irrigation was carried on in some prehistoric time, and 
the evidences show that this is simph' a deposit of sediment or mud 
from the rivers. The amount of sediment is so great that the people 
now have great difficulty in maintaining their canals. They have 
already dug it out and piled it up as far as they can throw it, and it is 
a serious question now what they are going to do with the canals in 
certain areas of the Salt River Valle}^ in order to keep them open. It 
is very generally believed that reservoirs will quickly fill up with the 
silt in such districts as that unless special precautions are taken to keep 
them open; and that is an engineering feature that has not yet been 
satisfactorily solved. In other localities there is no trouble with this 
silt, as the waters do not carry any great amoimt. Even if we get 
water that is free from silt and an absence of salt, there is the further 
danger of seepage waters and the accumulation of alkali in the soils, 
as I have already stated. 

Q. This accumulation of alkali is only in arid countries!' There is 
no alkali to speak of in the Appalachian Range, is there? — A. No; 
because the drainage is so great. So much rainfall comes down that 
it is carried ofl". The alkali is the natural weathering of the rocks, 
resulting from their disintegration. 

Q. Peculiar to arid regions? — A. Yes; although we have it here in 
the East occasionally. The mineral springs that we have are due to 
nothing more nor less than the decomposition of the rocks, and the 
same cause accounts for the alkali in the Western States. It is the 
weathering of the rocks being carried oft' by the water. In the West 
these decomposed rocks accumulate in the soil and stay there. Our 
iron springs and our alum springs and mineral springs generally are 
the products of the weathering of the rock being carried ofl b}^ the 
water. But we get no such accumulations here as they get in the 
West, simply because we have -1-0 inches of rainfall here, 20 inches of 
which goes down through the ground and is carried ofl' in the rivers. 



42 EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 

Out there we have a very small rainfall, only about 5 per cent of which 
ever goes off, and then usually over the surface of the ground. 

In the consideration of irrigation as a means for the reclamation of 
lands, 1 would call the attention of the commission to the necessity of 
uniform State laws and the possibilities of national legislation. There 
are certain phases of this subject which will undoubtedl}^ have to be 
taken up by the National Congress, particularly with interstate streams 
and where the streams form the boundaries of adjoining States. But 
as the Department of Agriculture has a distinct division for the study 
of irrigation and its laws and methods, it would hardl}' be advisable 
for me to go into it at any great length. My own connection with the 
matter, however, in our study of the soils and of the seepage waters 
and alkali has convinced me that it will be necessary to use more care 
in the application of water, not only conserving it for use elsewhere, 
but to protect from the injurious effects of overirrigation and the 
accumulation of seepage water and of alkali. I think it is safe to say 
that in nearly all the irrigated districts twice as much land could be 
irrigated with the water that is now used, with actual benefit to the 
soil, provided it was intelligently applied. 

I would also refer again to the matter that 1 spoke of a while ago; 
that is, the necessity of legislation in the case of soils damaged by the 
accumulation of seepage water and of alkali from leak}' ditches and 
from overirrigation on neighboring farms. It seems to me that a 
remedy of some kind must be worked out. It hardly seems fair or 
just that a person owning a piece of land which he has planted and 
cared for and upon which he uses the most careful and most intelligent 
means, should be allowed to be injured by a seepage from a canal or 
from the careless methods employed on a neighl)oring farm. It seems 
to me that either through State or national legislation recoui'se should 
be given for the recovery of damages in civil suits. 

DRAINAGE. 

The next method to which I would call your attention for the 
reclamation of lands is the subject of drainage. There are many areas 
of swamp lands and still larger areas of cold, wet clays in the United 
States that are unproductive or have been abandoned from a small 
accumulation of water which needs to be removed b}^ artificial means. 
It is claimed that one-fifth of the State of Michigan is swamp lands. 
The report of the Illinois board of agriculture for 1894 states that 
during 1893 — that is, in one year — there was laid in the State of 
Illinois alone 26,985,000 feet of tile drains. Of this, 18,310,000 feet 
were laid in the northern part of the State, 8,607,000 feet in the 
central part, and the remainder in the southern part. In the north 
there were 28 feet of tile to each acre cultivated. In the central part 
there were 29 feet of tile for each acre cultivated, and in the soutJiern 



EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 43 

part 1 foot of tile for each acre cultivated. In Doug-las County there 
were 85 feet of tile for ever^^ acre of cultivated land, and in Livingston 
County 78 feet to each acre. In the eastern part of Livingston Count}' 
is found the Vermilion Swamp. As late as 1880 lands could be pur- 
chased there for $3 to $5 per acre; the same lands, which have since 
been drained, are now valued at from $60 to $90 per acre for general 
farm purposes. As a result of this widespread system of drainage as 
practiced in Illinois and in Michigan, the swamp lands have become 
the most productive, the healthf ulness of the vicinity has been much 
improved, and the public roads have been kept in much better repair. 
The drainage laws of Illinois, and in fact of most of the States where 
drainage is practiced to a considerable extent, are very complete and 
deal with all phases of the question, from the rights and lia])ilities of 
the drainage conniiissioners of the district down to the minute details 
which concern the individual. It seems to me that this question of 
drainage legislation is one of the important questions, at least for the 
Western country. 

Q. What State has the best laws as to drainage? — A. My opinion 
is that Illinois has the most complete; Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Wis- 
consin, Minnesota, and New York. 

As a result of our soil in\'estigations in the Salt Lake Valley last 
year, we found that it would be quite possible to reclaim the large 
tract of salt land west of Salt Lake City, and perhaps that this should 
be done by the people; but it was apparent in the first place that if it 
were done it would have to ])e done by private enterprise, as the State 
was debarred by its own constitution from taking any part in internal 
improvements of that character, as is done in Minnesota and in some 
of the Central Western States. It was further found that, l)y reason 
of the lack of any drainage laws, it would be almost impossible to drain 
any considerable part of that area without getting the written consent 
of ever}" individual landowner who would be in any way affected; and 
strange as it may seem, it was not found possible to get such consent 
in the attempts that have been made. 

PROTECTION BY LEVEES. 

Another method for the protection and reclamation is by levees for 
protection from floods and from tide. The commission of course is 
aware of the important work of the commission having this matter in 
charge on the Mississippi River, and it is scarcely necessary for me to 
refer to it at this time. I have also spoken at some length in regard 
to the levees protecting the rice swamps of South Carolina and adjoin- 
ing States. 

A question that is assuming some proportions now in this country 
is the possibility of reclaiming the swamps of the Atlantic and Pacific 



44 EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 

coasts. Not only is it desirable to reclaim these lands for their agri- 
cultural value, which it is admitted would be great, but for the pro- 
tection, the help, and the material welfare of the surrounding country. 
We have a very excellent illustration of the tremendous bearing this 
question has upon the healthfulness and prosperity of a communit}^ by 
reference to the conditions prevailing here in the city of Washington, 
where the swamps have rendered almost uninhabitable, at least by the 
wealthy and well-to-do people, certain portions of this city, and where 
there is no possible question that the cause could be removed, and an 
appreciation of property aggregating thousands and thousands of dol- 
lars could be effected simply by reclaiming the swamp lands. 

Q. Have you any method of or any theor}^ concerning the reclaim- 
ing of those lands? The tide comes up the Potomac. How can it be 
prevented from overflowing? — A. The same method would have to be 
used that is used in the rice lands of the vSouth, where similar condi- 
tions prevail. There should be a levee with gates which will let the 
water out and drain the land, and will shut when the tide comes up 
and prevent any access from the outside. With that protection against 
the rise of the tide, accompanied by the necessar}^ drainage in the soil 
itself to carr}^ off the seepage waters which come from the surround- 
ing country, the land could be reclaimed and put in a high state of 
cultivation. 

This question has been asked in regard to the possibilities of reclaim- 
ing many of the marshes of Long Island and of New Jersey particu- 
larly. It has been estimated that the reclamation of the marsh lands 
in New Jersey adjacent to Jersey City would cost something like 
$8,000,000. The plans are under consideration now, and, in fact, 
large areas have already been undertaken in the reclamation of those 
lands. Also along the coast, particularly in connection with the resi- 
dents on Long Island and along the Jersey coast, in Delaware and in 
Maryland, and in North Carolina and in Virginia, the disastrous effects 
of these swamps are keenl}^ felt by the people who go there to spend 
the summer near the seashore. Not only are they unpleasant, but 
they are at times and in places distinctly dangerous because of the 
prevalence of mosquitoes, which convey malaria, and because of the 
presence of other fevers that are very fatal or injurious. 

A plan has recently been proposed to the Department for the reclama- 
tion of a large area of swamp land on Long Island for the purpose of 
being able to treat the swamp for mosquitoes. Thc}^ are not able with- 
out enormous expense now to control the mosquito pest and the con- 
sequent malaria that has come to the locality. They want to see if the 
land can be diked and subsequently drained, so that they can entirely 
exterminate the mosquitoes from that localit3\ It is probable that 
the plan will be carried out. 

It seems to me that such work as that is primarily for the individual 



EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 45 

and in the second place for the State. I hardly see that the National 
Government has any interest or control in the matter. It is certainly 
not like the development of harbor privileges or the improvement of 
rivers, for it applies only to the localit}- in which it is conducted. 

Q. (By Mr. Clarke.) Areyouawareof the experiment in reclaiming- 
marsh lands that was made in Marshfield, Mass. ? — A. Not particularl}-. 

Q. There the dike had the effect to close the harbor, practically; 
not but that there was sufficient area of harbor below the dike, but 
the failure to accumulate a large body of water above that checked 
the passing out with the ebb of the tide, and resulted in the accumu- 
lation of sand bars in the lower harbor, so that the harbor was prac- 
tically ruined, and there was a great clamor on the part of the fishermen, 
which finally came to be supplemented by that of cottagers who built 
along the shore of that small bay, until, finally, the legislature was 
induced to cut awa}^ the diking and abandon the experiment of reclaim- 
ing the lands. — A. Oh; it was the outflow of this immense volume of 
water that filled up the channel? 

Q. Yes; so I apprehend that whenever the experiment is entered 
upon along the shore anywhere to reclaim the marsh lands the ques- 
tion of harbor rights and the like will come in to affect the problem 
more or less. — A. There is no ([uestion that legislation will be neces- 
sary, and it is likely to be a complicated matter. It is one that would 
affect the State, however, and not the National Cxovernment, unless it 
interfered, of course, with the channels of the harbor; then it would be 
a national matter. 

I think that I have covered in these remarks the principal causes of 
the exhaustion and the deterioration of soils, as I view the question, 
and I have spoken at some length in regard to measures which should 
be used for the reclamation of lands. If I have left anything unsaid 
that should have been said, or if I should have made anything clearer, 
I should be very glad to answer an}^ questions that the commission 
may be pleased to ask. 

Q. You said something about animalcules in the soils. Is that a 
comparatively^ recent discovery, or has it been long known to scientists 
that soil abounds in animal life? — A. It is comparatively recent, that 
is, within thirt}'^ or forty years, that the bacteria have been recognized 
and their importance understood. 

Q. I have seen a statement that you can take a small tract of soil 
which is ver}' fertile, and accustomed to produce large crops, and strike 
it with a pole persistently until you kill all the animal life that 
there is in it, and that the next year it would not bear an3'thing. Is 
that correct? — A. I do not think so; I do not think it would be possi- 
ble to kill bacteria in that way. 

Q. (By Mr. Phillips.) You spoke of cultivating bacteria. What 
process is used ? — A. Certain leguminous crops have tubercles on their 



46 p:xhaustion and abandonment ob" soils. 

roots, which are found to contain hirge numbers of these bacteria, and 
by inocidating- with this suital)le culture medium, they can be culti- 
vated and pure cultures be made. Such cultures are for sale in Ger- 
many and to a Umited extent in this country, and it is found that cer- 
tam crops will not grow unless these bacteria are in the soil; therefore 
many of the leguminous crops, for example clover, will not grow unless 
there are certain forms of these bacteria in the soil, and by seeding this 
pure culture over the land, that is, mixing with a little soil, and sow- 
ing on the land, the yield may be doubled, o.r increased even more than 
that. 

Q. The small bulbs are used in producing cultures in the same way ? — 
A. Yes; the tubercle is just mashed in the culture medium, so that the 
inside is exposed, and these bacteria get out and thrive on this culture 
medium. 

Q. What is used for that culture medium? — A. I am not sure what 
is used; I am not acquainted with the method of making the pure cul- 
ture. 

Q. (By Mr. Tompkins.) That is similar to Conn's culture in giving 
flavor to butter? — A. To butter or cheese. 

Q. Where is this culture made in this country ? — A. Some impor- 
tant experiments have been made at the experiment station in Alabama. 

Q. At Auburn? — A. At Auburn; yes. Some of the most impor- 
tant work has been done there. 

Q. Under whose charge? — ^A. I do not recollect now. 

Q. (By Mr. Clarke.) Can you ordinaril}^ determine by the exami- 
nation of soil what is requisite to make it more productive? — A. No; 
you can not, and that is one of the most embarrassing questions that 
we have to answei'. As I have shown in my testimony, the cause of 
the deterioration is quite often due to lack of good management, good 
judgment, and good practice on the part of the farmer, ))ut we can 
not tell from a chemical or ph3\sical examination whether the soil is 
productive or not. We can often tell the kind of crop it is adapted to, 
whether it is a truck soil, or wheat soil, or a grass soil, liut whether it 
is fertile in its condition the chemical analysis does not clearly indicate. 

Q. Recently Mr. Hammond, of South Carolina, a ver}^ intelligent 
planter of long experience, testified before the commission that in his 
opinion the use of commercial fertilizers was an evil rather than a 
benefit, especially in his State, and particular!}^ because it led many 
farmers to abandon making an application of the ordinary farm ferti- 
lizers, manures, etc. What is your opinion about that^ — A. My 
opinion is that in the main that is correct; that the use of fertilizers 
tends to make the farmer more shiftless and less careful in saving and 
in the cultivation of his land. Fertilizers have been introduced in 
comparatively recent years. There was never any trouble for lack of 
fertilizers in the Eastern countries. The lands there have been culti- 



EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 47 

vated for hundreds and thousands of years, but it had been done by 
careful work. The farmers have saved everything- that came off the 
place. The}^ have saved all of the litter and put that back; all manure 
and put that back, and all excrements and waste of the farm and put 
them back on the soil and worked it in; thej^ have had small holdings 
and used intensive cultivation. With us, we have these large areas, 
entirely too large to manure with the ordinary waste from the farm, 
and we rel}^ on these commercial fertilizers with no addition of organic 
matter, and after with clean cultivation. There is no question in ni}^ 
mind that much harm has been done by continuous and excessive use 
of commercial fertilizers without the intensive methods that should be 
employed when they are used. 

Q. Would it not, in your opinion, be possible to reclaim very many 
of the so-called worn-out farms of Maryland and Virginia by gathering 
muck from the low places and subjecting it to the tread of live stock, 
and mingling with it the manure that ordinai'ily accumulates on a well- 
stocked farm, and applying that intelligently to the various soils of 
those farms? — A. It would be where the cost of the process would not 
be too great, but unless it was adjacent to the land it would not be 
feasible. The cheapest method in that case Avould be to grow cowpeas 
and other forms of green manure. There is no question if -j^ou adopt 
such methods as that, of being able to bring the land up. It is simply 
Ijecause farmers do not do what they know is the simplest and most 
efficient thing to do. There are lands that are kept up in good shape 
just by the methods that are used on the average farms which are in 
very good condition, simply because they are attended to in those 
wa3^s. 

Q. Have the farmers of the West begun to practice fertilization a 
great deal more than formerly ? — A. They are not using f ertilzers to 
any great extent. I think the practice is increasing a ver}^ little, but 
verj' little fertilizer is used throughout the West at the present time. 

Q. Is there not danger that their soils will become comparatively 
barren unless something is done to restore what is taken from them? — 
A. There will be if the owners persist in the cultivation of the same 
crop year after year, as is done now in Red River Valley and in some 
of our Central States; but by a rotation of crops or ])y introduction of 
more intensive methods when the soils begin to wear out their fertility 
can be maintained and improved. Now, they say very justl}' that while 
they are getting 12 or 15 bushels of wheat to the acre at the low cost 
at which it is produced, 20 cents, they don't care at all what becomes 
of their lands; they are going to last the lifetime of the present gener- 
ation and they are not concerned with what becomes of them after 
that. I think very likely that that yield of 12 or 15 bushels that is 
obtained now in the Red River Valley can })e obtained for a long series 
of years. The soils are almost identical with the fertile wheat lands 



48 EXHAUSTION AND ABANDONMENT OF SOILS. 






of Russia that have produced wheat for a great man}' generations, but 
the time will come, I presume, when the yield will decrease below what 
they are getting now, and they will feel the need either of fertilizing 
the soil better or of changing their crops and introducing more inten- 
sive methods than they have at present. 

Q. What is your advice on the subject? — A. I see no opportunity- 
of changing the methods at the present time. It is a good deal like 
the arrangement made where you can rent range lands for 5 cents an 
acre per year, and where you can not afford to put much imj^rovement 
on the lands. They are only worth $1.25 an acre, and you certainl}" 
can not spend much money in maintaining the fertility of such lands. 
It seems to me it is an economic question; it is not an agricultural 
question. We simply can not afford to maintain the fertility of those 
lands with the expense attending that process until lands become more 
valuable than they are at the present time. 

Q. It is cheaper, is it not, to maintain fertility than to restore it? — 
A. That, of course, is a relative matter; it is more expensive for us 
and it is less expensive for our grandchildren. 

Q. Have you investigated the sul)ject of iiowing sewage upon the 
lands? — A. I have not, except quite incidentally. We have never 
made an}' investigation of that question at all. 

Q. (By Mr. Phillips.) What is the best green crop to raise to 
fertilize the land — plowing it down, for instance? — A. Clover is one 
of the best renovators of the soil \vhere it can be grown, but the pos- 
sibilities of growing it are limited and the most geuerall}^ useful crop 
is the cowpea of the South. 

Q. That came into use quite recently? — A. Yes; well, twenty-five 
years ago in an extensive vfiiy. 

Q. Is it used to a considerable, extent in th(> North and West? — A. 
It is being used to a considerable extent now in the North. 

Q. It is supposed to have this bacteria, is it not? — A. Yes; it has 
these root tubercles. 

Q. (By Representative Bell.) Have you ever visited Greeley in 
Colorado? — A. I was there once, six years ago. 

Q. They have a rotation there on first wheat; then the}' follow with 
alfalfa, which they plow under; then follow with potatoes, and in 
turn follow the potatoes with wheat. They thus gro>Y an enormous 
crop every year. I think they make over 40 bushels of wheat there 
to the acre following those crops. — A. And they get enormous yields 
of potatoes. 

Q. Enormous. It is the best potato spot in the world. They 
haven't a rival In the United States. I think they ship the best pota- 
toes to London. 

(Testimony closed.) 

O 



LBJe'13 



